The Other Side of the Mirror
by Miss Anne Thropy
Summary: Completely AU take on what the cat's life would be like if Kyo had been a girl and what it would mean not just for her, but for the rest of the zodiac as well. Chapter 12 up now COMPLETED
1. Beginnings and Cages

The Other Side of the Mirror.

Chapter 1-Beginnings and Cages.

-"The cat is cursed. Always has been. That was why she died. Don't you understand?" Kyoko heard her father say to the tall man in the kimono who stood beside her, his hand tangled in her hair as he placidly faced her father.

She was quiet now. There was nothing else for her to say to her father. She had tried telling him it wasn't her fault. But he didn't listen. He never listened. That was why she pushed him. She would have done something else…what, she didn't know. But that man called Kazuma had come and held her back and now he was holding her hand while he talked to her father.

"She's only a child. How could she have anything to do with her mother's death?" Kazuma Sohma asked, his voice placid, yet his eyes were burning with a dark fire that the bitter man failed to notice in his grief.

"The strain of having that monster killed her. All that she had to deal with…it killed her." The man said, his voice harsh as he glared at the cursed child the gods had chosen to punish him with.

"So would it bother you if I asked for her to come and live with me then?" Kazuma asked, his patience ebbing with the man in front of him. He understood pain and grief. Understood that it made people say things that they would have normally kept quiet and hidden. But he also knew that it wasn't fair to subject an innocent child to pointless, hurtful tirades that would do nothing but wound the child.

The sooner he got his answer, the sooner he could both heal the child and soothe the guilt he felt over another, long committed sin against another innocent person.

Kyoko's father's lips thinned out as he looked down at the girl who was staring at him with bristling eyes and shuddered.

"Take the damned thing. Enjoy it while it destroys your life as well." He hissed before turning on his heel and stalking away.

Kazuma sighed and watched him until he turned a corner and disappeared. It was only then that he looked down at his new charge.

He had done it to give her time to compose herself, since he could feel her holding back the tears as her father had insulted her. Even though she was nothing but a little girl, she would still have some kind of pride.

Once he was sure that she was calm, or as calm as she could be, he knelt down and looked into her eyes, which despite their odd orange colour, were very pretty. It made him think again how despite the curse, they were all extremely beautiful individuals. It was as if life was making up for hurting them by allowing that small comfort,

"So it is true?" she asked, her voice small and harsh in the quiet garden. "I'm going to live with you now?"

Kazuma smiled and stroked her hair, once again silently wishing that the curse wouldn't prevent the most positive way of comforting the child.

"Yes. I run a martial arts dojo, even though I may not look like it. I can also teach you, if you want to learn. Would you life that?"

The girl watched him warily for a few moments, as if expecting another cruel trick to be sprung upon her. Kazuma waited patiently, knowing it was only natural that she would be so leery about the sudden kindness in her life. After all, with her curse, she was probably used more to hate, anger and disdain than anything else.

"Yes. I would." She finally answered, her voice wavering as she spoke. Kazuma smiled and stood up.

"Come on." He held out his hand. Kyoko looked up at him with an unreadable expression before only grasping the tips of his fingers. Kazuma began to walk, all the while wondering as to what other kinds of abuse the child had been exposed to, apart from the usual ones. As they walked, he hoped that in time, he would be able to help heal most, if not all of the wounds that already had deeply marked the child.

-------

_Another banquet, another new year and still, nothing had changed_. Yuki thought as he obediently sat next to Akito, who was coolly watching the rest of the juunishi as they had **their **banquet.

The others paid no attention to him. In fact, they were doing their best to stay out of the line of sight of their god and their gods' chosen toy. The only one that was somewhat paying attention to him was Hatsuharu, and only then it was with small glances, since he knew how jealous their god was.

Yuki didn't want to be there. Didn't want to face the sidelong looks the other juunishi were giving him. Didn't want to hear what they said about him behind closed doors. He knew that he was a tool. His mother had told him as much. She didn't care that Akito was locking him up, separating him from other people, hurting him. She only cared about the prestige that trading her son had brought her.

He blinked as he watched the two juunishi stand up. The atmosphere was still and he let out a soft sigh. Once the dance was over, he would be able to at least go outside. It was a small comfort, but it was one he would gladly take. He had learned long enough to not ever overlook small things in his life.

"_I want to go away from here." _He thought as he hugged his knees tighter. He sighed and watched the new zodiac dance with the old one and wondered whether he would be able to endure yet another year in his gilded cage. He would have to. There was no hope for him of ever being free from anything in the Sohma circle.

The dance ended and the others scattered as unobtrusively, and as quickly as possible. No one wanted to be in the presence of the head any longer than they had to. Even though the head was coldly nice to them, they were learning to be wary of the moods that gripped their god.

Yuki made sure to bow to Akito before also leaving the banquet. He stuck to areas that wouldn't have many of the other family around and quietly snuck outside to the snow covered courtyard.

He took a deep breath and felt his emotions calm as he stood in the soothing cold. It was nice and comfortable, the temperature not bad enough for him yet. He wished he could stay out there for as long as possible, but he knew that wouldn't be possible. He would have to go back. He always had to go back.

He shook his head and walked towards the now frozen pond to stare at the patterns that the lights made on the ice. He had come up to the edge of the pond when he spotted a small figure that was wearing a long dark coat that contrasted with the orange hair lying in a long tangle over it.

He must have made a sound, because the person turned around and looked at him with thickly lashed, wide orange eyes.

They stared at each other for a few moments before Yuki timidly spoke to the person.

"Hello. A-a-re you a Sohma too?" He asked, coming closer.

"Yes. I'm Kyoko Sohma. Who are you?" Yuki's eyes widened at the words, which were spoken neutrally.

"I'm Yuki Sohma. Pleased to meet you." Yuki introduced himself and bowed. Kyoko watched him warily before she too, bowed.

They stood in silence once again before Kyoko spoke.

"Are you one of the cursed?" she asked him, her voice full of curiosity.

"Yes. I am the rat." Yuki admitted, feeling uneasy as to why Kyoko's eyes widened at that answer. Was she going to try and touch him to see if it was true?

Kyoko stepped forward and reached out to him with her right hand, making Yuki's eyes widen when he saw the familiar red and white bracelet that all the cats of the family wore.

So this was the cat. The on Akito spoke about in such tones of disgust and hatred.

_But why? _He asked himself as her hand finally connected with his chest. For a brief moment, he wondered if she would push him away. After all, the cat and the rat were supposed to hate each other because of the banquet. But all she did was pull him close in a hug, just like Akito had done at their first moment.

Except this time, the contact and the feeling of warmth that sprung up from it was brief. Too brief.

"Get away from that monster!" Akito shrieked in rage. Yuki looked up in surprise and had only time to blink before he was pulled away and the cat hurled to the ground.

She let out a high cry and another adult showed up, a tall man with long hair tied back who immediately ran towards Kyoko, who was now cradling her left arm against her body.

"Keep that monster away, Kazuma! She's not to go near Yuki. EVER!" Akito shriked at the man as she pulled Yuki roughly into the direction of the house. Kazuma only glared at Akito coldly before picking up a softly crying Kyoko and taking her to another part of the house.

"Did she do anything else to you, Yuki?" Akito crooned as she pushed his hair away from his face. Yuki only shook his head, too afraid of saying anything else lest he unleash more of her temper on him.

"Good. Promise me, Yuki that you won't ever go near that filthy little brat. I don't ever want for you to be soiled by her, my precious Yuki."

Yuki nodded and endured another embrace from Akito.

"Good boy. Now let's go inside."

Yuki silently obeyed. After all, there was no way for him to leave.


	2. Growing Pains

Chapter 2- Growing Pains

Hatsuharu looked around the dojo with a bored expression on his face. He heard the grownups talking above his head, but he ignored them. There was nothing really interesting for him to listen to, so he settled for looking around the Spartan room. It was, to his immense boredom, the same as every dojo he had seen on television. Wide room, wooden floors, big windows that let both air and sunshine in. Nothing special. A few banners hung here and there, but that was it.

He looked up then and blinked in surprise when he saw the master of the dojo looking down at him with a kind smile on his face.

"You don't have to stay here, Haa-kun. If you want, you can look around the dojo. There is a garden outside. We will come and fetch you when the time comes. Would you like that?"

Haru blinked at the man, slightly taken aback by the kind tones in his voice. Not too many grown-ups spoke to him that way, many of them talking down to him or worse, being snide since he was the ox. The fact that he had taken the time to talk to him like a human being automatically put him on Haru's good graces. Once he had finished analyzing his motives, Haru nodded and headed out to the garden.

He had spent a few moments poking about in his absent-minded way when he was suddenly tackled from behind into a thick bunching of bushes.

He sat up slowly and felt his temper rise. Who the hell did that to him? When he found them, they were going to pay!

"What the hell!" He yelled, standing up and brushing leaves out of his hair. "When I get a hold of you, I'm going to tear you apart!"

A low, almost husky laugh was his response, making his anger level rise a couple of notches. It was bad enough that he had been knocked down and now he was getting laughed at? Oh there was going to be hell to pay for that!

"You think you can beat me?" his tormentor teased him. Scowling in fury, he rushed towards the voice and attacked.

To his surprise, his victim didn't strike back. Blinking a bit to clear his vision, he was surprised to find a girl with long, orange hair lying underneath him, a smirk on her lips as she looked at him.

"A girl!" He gasped, feeling shame wash away the anger that had recently been coursing through him. He had never meant to hit a girl! He wasn't that kind of boy! Would she get angry and tell his parents about him?

The girl watched the emotions flash through the boy's face and she laughed that husky laugh again.

"You still think you can beat me?" she asked a mortified and confused Haru before she neatly flipped him over head, causing him to land in the bushes. Again.

Haru lay there for several moments, the wind knocked out of him. As he lay there, waiting for his lungs to get more oxygen in them, he asked himself whether he was actually humiliated at being manhandled or impressed that a slip of a girl had stood her ground against him when he had charged at her in full black mode. Not even his _father _had had the courage to stand up to him. Most of the time his parents just let him tear up the house whenever he went into his rages. That was the main reason as to why they were taking him to Kazuma-dono. They thought that if he learned martial arts he would be able to control his inner demon a bit better, since nothing they did helped in that area.

"She got you, huh kid?" He shook his head and noticed an older guy looking down at him, a small grin on his face as he did so.

"Huh?" Haru replied, still somewhat out of it as the other guy helped him stand up.

"Kyoko." The guy replied, his grin growing wider as he brushed the leaves clinging to Haru's shirt and trousers.

"She tends to do that to everyone that first comes to the dojo. She knocked me right on my arse. I still have to think of a way to get her back." The guy scowled at the memory, making Haru look at him closely for the first time.

"Why is your hair orange?" Haru asked bluntly.

" It's natural. My mum was from England, kid. Besides, why is your hair white and black?"

Haru shrugged. He really didn't have an answer to that, since he knew that he couldn't tell an outsider of the curse. That had been drilled time and time again into his head and he had seen the consequences of disobeying when Yuki's friends had been forced to forget him at Hatori's hands and at Akito's request.

"Just came out that way, huh?" the older guy grinned again and winked at him with pale yellowish eyes that made Haru think of cats. It also made him wonder whether he was actually the cat of the zodiac that he had heard about, yet never seen in his life.

"Kyo, is Kyoko there with you?" Kazuma asked his student as he stepped out into the garden and made his way towards Kyo.

"I was looking for her, but I came across this little one first. I think Kyoko gave him her version of welcome. I found him lying in the bushes looking pretty dazed." Kyo told Kazuma, who looked down at Haru with a look of apology and amusement mixed into one.

"I do apologize for my troublesome daughter, Haa-kun. Would you like to help me find her so I can introduce you properly?" Kazuma asked Haru politely.

"I would like that." Haru replied with such gravity that Kyo raised an eyebrow to his master, who only shrugged. Haru was an unusually solemn child, that was all there was to that.

"Is there anything else you would like for me to do, Kazuma-san?" Kyo asked his master respectfully. Kazuma shook his head and bid the young man a good day before he took Haru's hand and led him off in search of his daughter.

"Is he the cat?" Haru asked once Kyo had waved them off and gone his merry way.

"No. He's a student of mine. Well, most of the time. Right now, his task seems to have him chasing after Kyoko whenever she is in one of her moods." Kazuma commented mildly as he looked high and low for his way ward daughter. He was about to give up the search and let her come out on her own, since she was technically acting on instinct at that moment.

She didn't like strangers and would often come out cautiously, attack and then run away to hide somewhere until the perceived threat was over. He suspected he was going to have to talk to her about that soon, since a few times, she had come dangerously close to transforming in front of his students due to that tendency of hers.

"He looks like a cat." Haru commented as he looked up at one of the trees in the garden. He thought he saw movement, but he wasn't sure until a flash of orange through the foliage that his suspicions were confirmed. Nudging Kazuma to get his attention, he then pointed up to the tree.

Kazuma nodded and moved quietly towards the tree. He only had to wait for a few moments before Kyoko moved again and it was then when he struck, pulling the girl out of her hiding place and setting her down on the ground lest she decide to claw his eyes out. Kyoko really didn't do too well when she was startled. Not even with him, her protector.

"You!" Kyoko yelled out, pointing at an unperturbed Hatsuharu, who was calmly watching her, wondering what she would do next.

"So you've met before?" Kazuma asked, wondering what exactly Kyoko had done to Haru.

"He's intruding." Kyoko stated flatly, her orange eyes going dark as she stared at the placid boy standing beside her beloved Kazuma.

"Kyoko…he's going to be living with us for a while. His parents want him to study martial arts with us. His name is Hatsuharu." Kazuma explained patiently to his daughter, who was glaring daggers at Haru.

"He's not stupid, is he? Cause I hate stupid boys." Kyoko growled as she went up to Haru and poked him roughly, making him lose his footing and also a bit of his temper.

"No. He's not stupid. I'm sure that you will get along fine."

"Why-poke-does-poke-he have to stay with us?" Kyoko asked, her voice going into a not quite whine as she poked Haru particularily hard, sending him stumbling and snapping the last bit of his temper.

"Shut up you conceited little witch! Who says I want to live with you either!" Haru screamed before barreling towards her, murder clear in his eyes.

Kyoko only smiled grimly before she charged at Haru while Kazuma only watched. He didn't like Kyoko picking fights, but he figured that it wouldn't hurt this time, since once they pummeled each other, they would either settle down and learn to live with each other or die trying. So he watched them warily and prepared himself to jump in just in case the fight got too dirty.

He didn't have to wait long to watch them pummel each other, since Kyoko started it by punching Haru in the face. Haru snarled and hit her back with as much force as he could muster. Kazuma could see that it was a hard hit by how Kyoko's eyes got bright, but she didn't give up and launched herself at Haru, knocking him off his feet.

"You're really going to let them go at it?" Kyo asked, appearing at Kazuma's elbow, since the sounds that Kyoko and Haru were making could be heard throughout the entire dojo.

"Kyoko needs to learn that she's not always going to get her way and Haru needs to learn he's not the only one with a bad temper."

"Ouch. Don't you think that's a bit harsh?" Kyo commented as he too watched the children leave what was a good clean fight and descend quickly into a dirty free for all that involved scratching, hair pulling, biting and eye poking.

"No. I mean look at them, besides, do you really want to get involved in the middle of that?" Kazuma asked as he pointed to Kyoko, who was gleefully scoring her nails down Haru's back while Haru yanked at her hair.

"Very true. When do you plan to stop them?" Kyo asked when Haru finally got annoyed with all the scratching and clamped his teeth down on Kyoko's arm.

Kazuma shook his head and walked off to the corner of the garden. Testing the water pressure on the hose, he let it go full blast on the children until they stopped throttling each other and sat there, dripping wet and looking up at him in both shock and annoyance.

"Aah. That was refreshing." Haru commented as he pushed his dripping hair out of his face and looked up at Kazuma.

"I'm glad you thought so. Now are you both through with your little hissy fit?" Kazuma asked both of them, despite everyone knowing that it was Kyoko who the question was aimed for.

"Yeah. He's not stupid." Kyoko conceded quietly as she got up. She looked down at Haru, who was watching her calmly and offered her hand to him.

"Come on, brat. I'll show you were the bathroom is."

Haru nodded and put his hand in hers, allowing her to lead him.

"Damn, Master." Kyo whispered in amusement as he watched the two children walk away, their animated chatter fading the further inside they got.

"How did you know?"

Kazuma shrugged. "Trial and error, I suppose. Kyoko's got to learn to share. She's been spoiled in both good and bad ways. I'm hoping that once she is with Haru she'll start learning more about caring for others rather than just herself."

Kyo nodded. "I'm sure she will. She's not a bad kid…she just doesn't know any better. Yet."

Kazuma nodded. "I hope she will learn."

Notes: Thank you for the reviews, I am glad to see that people are reading this little AU take. I will try to update as soon as I can, but I am working on this whenever I have time.

Also, I know the characters are a bit OCC, but then Kyo as a girl would be more aloof and less violent, since women tend to be internalize grief an anger. Once in a while she would let it show…I chose for her to show it right now because she feels very threatened. Once she gets over that…she will be different. Anyways, thanks and yes, Kyo does have a cameo. He he he.


	3. Interlude

Interlude-New Year's Hangover

"How is she?" Hatori asked, his voice only cracking slightly on the second word. Kazuma saw him wince, but didn't give any reaction that he had heard it. Hatori had enough problems on his shoulders already.

"Sleeping. I'll take her to my house first thing in the morning." Kazuma informed him as he picked up the tea that had now gone lukewarm and took a sip from it.

"It was a bad break, but it will heal cleanly." Hatori replied as he shuffled through the paperwork that was his task to arrange after the head doctor was done.

"It better. She is only seven." Kazuma replied in a flat voice.

Hatori's mouth thinned into a taught line, but he said nothing. He knew that it was uncalled for, what Akito had done. He had seen it all and was now feeling the effects of his cowardice. He hadn't believed that Akito would have harmed the child. He honestly had believed that she would simply shun the child, but he hadn't counted on how sadistic she had become. He hoped that they would be able to do something about that before she learned how to fully become a cruel tyrant and make their lives a living hell.

Kyoko stirred in the bed and Kazuma and Hatori's attention was diverted to her at that point, but the child didn't stir. The silence grew between them and Hatori shuffled papers before he finally broke the silence between himself and the older martial arts instructor.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Hatori spoke, making Kazuma look at him sharply.

"Take her away from here. Don't even show up for the feasts. Akito hates her with double the intensity now, since she thinks Yuki is fond of Kyoko-chan."

Kazuma raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, since of all people, he would have never guessed that the aloof and somewhat timid appearing dragon would be the one to suggest what was technically treason for any of the junnishi to consider, much less speak of.

"You are playing with fire if you make that suggestion, Hatori-kun." Kazuma told him, his voice quiet as he spoke. He wasn't angry, since he was also toying with that suggestion already. He knew what that look in Akito's eyes had meant when their eyes had met. He also knew that despite the family's objections to the contrary, they would gladly give Kyoko up as a sacrifice. She was nothing more than an unwanted burden, a shameful reminder of a hideous past. If Akito in her childish fits of temper destroyed her, it wouldn't matter.

Hatori only raised an eyebrow, his eyes going as cold as shale as he looked at the older man.

"If you want to keep her in one piece and alive, you will consider the wisdom of what I have told you. Akito is starting to pick favourites, Yuki being one of them. She's fascinated with him and Akito will not look kindly on that. Good night, Kazuma-dono." Hatori replied coolly before bowing and taking his leave of the older man.

Kazuma watched him go, his words still ringing his ears as he did. He knew Hatori was right. He had seen how despite all the stupid prejudices the other relatives and even her own father had poured into her mind; she still had searched for the grey-haired boy possessed of the rat. That was why he had lost her. She had snuck off to see the child that was supposed to be such a taboo for her.

He also knew, regretfully, that she would probably keep on searching for him, despite the danger that was clearly there. He would have to separate them. At least until she was strong enough to face Akito on her own terms.

(Line Break)

Yuki stood outside, his arms wrapped tightly about himself as he shivered from the cold. He hated the cold, but he was willing to withstand it if he could get to see that strange orange-haired girl again. The one that had made Akito fly into a rage over. He wanted to know why she was so provocative. All he had seen was a curious girl that wanted to touch him, nothing more. So why did everyone shun her and slander her?

He wished she could come out soon. The New Year was even colder than the one before and Akito was bound to notice that he was missing sooner than before. She was keeping an even closer watch on him and it was making him nervous. Especially since she was now looking at him with different eyes. Eyes that promised things he was positive he wanted no part of at all.

"Who are you looking for?" A quiet, almost drowsy sounding voice asked. Turning around, he was surprised to see his cousin, Hatsuharu standing there, looking at him with bored eyes that held a hint of animosity. He was the ox and had had to constantly put up with adults joking about him being slow and stupid. Even though he had gotten over most of his anger towards Yuki, the incident with Kyoko had brought some of it back to the forefront.

"Kyoko-chan. I..I..I didn't see her with the other Sohmas…and last year…she was here. I thought maybe she would be here…"Yuki continued, his voice trailing off when he noticed the sympathetic expression on Haru's face.

"She's not coming back, Yuki. Kazuma-dono- She's living with him-he didn't come to the banquet. The grown-ups haven't said anything much about it, but there are rumors that he's not going to come back again. Not as long as he has Kyoko."

Haru felt horrible at having had to be the bearer of bad news when he saw the light of anticipation go out and be replaced by a dullness that signaled utter despair. He honestly didn't want to hurt Yuki, but he also didn't want him to hang onto false hope either.

"Why?" Yuki finally asked.softly.

"Last year, Akito saw her and hurt her. I heard Hatori telling Shigure-san that her arm was broken. Kazuma didn't want her to get hurt anymore, so he's not coming again."

Haru explained. Yuki nodded, his face coolly composed, but inside he was screaming.

Why was another person taken away from him? Was this loneliness the price to pay to be so close to God?

"Here. You're going to get sick." Haru interrupted his thoughts as he wrapped his coat around him.

"Let's go back inside. I know how much you hate being inside, but it wouldn't do to get sick. Come on."

Yuki nodded and let his younger cousin lead him inside.

As they walked inside, Yuki looked back at the frozen pond, thinking back to that New Years Day that someone had reached out to him in honest friendship rather than in calculating greed and then wondered whether he would ever have someone reach out to him like that again in his life.

(Line Break)

Once they were inside, Yuki was torn away from Hatsuharu by the silent maids that acted like sinister bodyguards for Akito. He didn't want to let go of the ox, but they gave him no choice. Akito wanted him to come to her and she wanted him presented to him NOW. He had no choice but to be carried away. He had mouthed a silent apology to his younger cousin, who only nodded, understanding all too well his role.

"Yuki, I want you to meet someone." Akito said the minute he had been shoved in front of the eerie God.

"This is Isuzu. She's the horse. She's going to be living with us now. You will be together with me now. Isn't that good?" Akito asked, her voice trying and failing for warmth and only sounding sinister instead.

Yuki looked away from the God to the long haired girl standing beside her dressed in a pretty dark red dress that made her pale face the more bewitching and somber.

"Nice to meet you." Yuki said as he bowed in front of the terrified looking girl.

"Good. Let us go greet the rest of the guests." Akito purred as she put her hands on their shoulders and led them to a throng of Sohmas.

Yuki sighed and felt as if his world had gone from dark to pitch black and he idly wondered exactly how he was going to survive it. As he wondered this, he felt a small, cold hand slip into his. Surprised, he looked at Isuzu, who gave him a small smile before looking straight ahead. Maybe it wouldn't be so dark after all, with Isuzu around.

He could only hope, since that was all he had left.

Finis

Notes: Sorry my notes have sucked for all chapters. I don't have a comp at home, I work on these after school and a friend always calls when I'm writing notes. This interlude explains the interim years and why Yuki ends up with Rin being his counterpart, rather than Haru.

This story is also going to be fairly dark, with many adult themes and this chapter is a bit of an explanation as to what happens in the later years. It's more of a gothic take on the Sohmas, since they are an old family and would have numerous little dirty secrets of all kinds.

Kyo(ko) is also less bitter as a child because of Kazuma coming to rescue her earlier and also because of Kazuma being more affectionate and Haru being an ally earlier and not forsaking the cat. I have to wonder whether some ofKyo's animosity towards Haru stems from losing Haru to his rival. Also, the rivalry between the cat and rat isn't existent here because Kyoko is already mistrustful of her father (for reasons to be explained later) and because of Kazuma instilling a sense of self-worth in her and because of Haru staying loyal to her in this universe. Chapter four is being worked on and I hope that this sheds more light on what I'm doing. Thanks for reading and all that.


	4. Bohemian Like You

Chapter 3-Bohemian Like You

"What's this?" Akito asked as Kureno put the paper in front of her. She knew she was the goddess and the head of the house, but right now, she simply wanted to sleep away the headache that was throbbing in her temples. In the corner of the room, Yuki sat and watched with wide eyes, but made no movement or no noise. It was as if he was nothing more than a doll in the room that would occasionally move, but only when Akito willed it. He had been perfectly trained for his task as Akito's doll and hadn't forgotten his lessons.

Although Kureno despaired for the young adolescent, he knew that he couldn't do anything for him. Not if he wanted Akito to fly into an uncontrollable rage and make the boy's life more of a living hell than it already was. She had already taken out her anger on Isuzu and he didn't want to be responsible for sending another family member to the hospital. He wished he could do more than look away from everything, but he was as trapped as they were. He had made a promise without thinking the consequences through. He had been doing it out of the goodness of his heart, but that had backfired on him.

He stifled his sigh of regret yet again and bent down to read the petition to the sulky adolescent girl in front of him.

"Kazuma is requesting permission for Haru and Kyoko to be sent to the local middle school in their area. Since he is their…"

"I don't care. Have him do whatever he wants for those two insignificant idiots. They are his concern, not mine. He's had them for what? Four years now? I could hardly care about them. It's all in his hands and if there are any repercussions to his actions, he will have to answer for them. Now go and call Hatori for me. My head is killing me."

Kureno acquiesced and bowed, leaving the room as silently as he was able.

On his way out, Yuki caught his gaze and for once he could see some kind of emotion in those silver eyes.

He turned his head quickly and walked out of the room as fast as he could without arousing suspicion from Akito. He knew that he had probably hurt the boy's feelings, but he simply couldn't bear to see that naked look on longing on that pale, almost corpse-like face. He would probably go to hell for his actions, but he was human after all and had his own demons to deal with. He simply wasn't strong enough to add anything else to his burden.

(Line Break)

Yuki waited patiently until Hatori arrived before taking his leave. He wasn't upset at Kureno ignoring him. He knew why they were all so careful to not disturb Akito.

"Rin." Yuki murmured under his breath as he rushed away to the wing of the house designated for Akito's pets. Oh yes. Even though the servants would deny it if he pressed them, he knew that was what they called him and Rin.

"As if we had a choice." He snorted quietly as he closed the door and latched it. They all watched him and Rin. They could sense something wasn't quite right, but they hadn't enough ammunition to raise any suspicions to Akito. They weren't that stupid. Or at least they had learned the hard way that Akito would _always_ side with the pets.

Satisfied that the door was secured, he went to the bedroom. He stood in the door way for several minutes and waited until Rin woke up.

"You're back early." She commented quietly as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and got out of bed, not caring that the robe she wore slipped off of her thin shoulder to reveal a portion of milky breast.

"Mhhmm. Kazuma had a petition and Akito had one of her famous headaches. She's got Hatori playing doctor with her at this moment, so here I am." Yuki explained impassively as he walked over to Rin and slipped the robe off, leaving only her lower body clothed.

Rin smiled and guided his hands to undo the belt of her robe.

"So how long does that leave us?" she asked as Yuki complied with her request and let the garment pool around her slim legs.

"I'd say about an hour." Yuki replied as he wound his hand in her long hair.

"Good. Let's make it worthwhile then."

(Line Break)

"Akito said to do what you want, but you will have to pay for any repercussions that may arise from that." Kureno informed him as neutrally as he could.

Kazuma smiled coldly and pocketed the stamped paper.

"Gladly. Thank you, Kureno. If you'll excuse me, I will be going now."

Kureno bowed respectfully.

"I understand. May you have a good day."

"Likewise." Kazuma returned the greeting and left as politely as possible without seeming hasty.

He knew it wasn't Kureno's fault that things were playing out as such, but he personally couldn't stand to be in the main house for any more time than he had to. Not only did it bring back the guilt associated with his treatment of his grandfather, but it also reminded him that when the time came; He would have to have a plan or else the girl he was sheltering from the cruelty of her fate would be locked away until she either went mad or died. And he was damned if he was going to let that happen. That child deserved to have a life spent in freedom. She deserved to have a life as happy as he could make it for her and he was determined that she would know as much of life as possible.

And that started with being in a normal school for once.

"I'm back." He announced as he entered the foyer and slipped off his sandals.

"Where did you go, Shishou? Kyo asked as he helped Kunimitsu arrange the paperwork for the daily going-ons with the dojo in the small room that Kazuma had designated as his office.

"I had to arrange a few things for Kyoko and Haru's schooling. It would make sense for Haru to go to the same location. Kyoko can keep him from getting lost and both of them can keep tabs on each other's tempers. I'd rather not get used to having to schedule time to meet with teachers because either of them or both of them got into fights during that week. I just hope that being in the same Middle school will calm them down somewhat."

Kazuma replied as he then handed the paperwork over to Kunimitsu to file in the proper location.

"True. Those two are hell spawn alone, but together they are angels. It's strange to think that they would get so close. Especially after they tried to knee-cap each other when they were what? Seven? Eight?"

Kyo asked Kunimitsu, who shrugged.

'Eight or so, I think. It hadn't been long after Kyoko came to live with Kazuma-sensei." Kunimitsu replied thoughtfully.

"Speaking of those two, where are they? I didn't get the chance to see them before I had to leave."

"They were in Kyoko's room last time we saw them." Kyo informed him.

Kazuma nodded and went to search for them. He stopped in Haru's room first and was surprised to not find them there. Even though Kyoko was at the stage of wanting to have her privacy, she was more often than not found in Haru's room either talking or reading with the boy. Once in a while, if her nightmares were bad enough, he found her cradled in Haru's arms. Even though the boy was a year younger, his gravity and steadfastness had proven an asset when Kyoko would occasionally simply fly into intense fits of emotion. She would either hide herself into the smallest space available and be unreachable to anyone, or she would only cling to either Kyo or Haru and be afraid of him.

He had tried in the past to reach out to her during those times, but she had drawn away in fear and not let him near her at all. The first time it had happened in front of Haru, he had had to contend with an angry little boy who was convinced that Kyoko needed protecting from him. He winced in remembrance of that time (he still had the bite marks on his knees from that time) and vowed that he had learned his lesson, even though the rejection had hurt. But not as much as when the realization of what had made a little girl lash out so violently at an adult man.

He shook his head to clear it and walked out of the cluttered room. He went to the next one, which was a marked contrast to Haru's. Despite Kyoko having had lived at the house longer, her room was barely lived in. A bookshelf and notebooks on the desk along with a couple of framed prints were all that decorated the walls and Kazuma made a mental note to ask one of the Sohma women what exactly a close to thirteen year old girl was supposed to be like.

Sighing, he went outside again and walked towards the dojo. He had a pretty good idea as to where Kyoko and Haru where hiding at that point.

(Line Break)

"What are you thinking about?" Haru asked Kyoko as he climbed up to Kazuma's roof. He didn't like heights, but when Kyoko was all quiet and moody, he didn't want to leave her alone. He sensed that she had something dark that was always there, like a ghost at the edge of her vision. She wasn't as strong as she pretended to be and the longer he knew her, the worse the fear that she would break irreparably became.

In a way, he reminded her of another long haired girl he only met briefly. He knew she was also part of their curse, but that was all. Her parents had taken her somewhere and he hadn't seen her again. He thought of her when Kyoko was lost in her memories and he hoped that she was doing well.

"Do you miss your parents, Haru?" she asked him as she sat back and looked up at the sky, which was a fairly brilliant blue and only smudged with the barest hints of clouds here and there.

Haru blinked at the unexpected question.

"Not really. They kind of aren't around much. I've spent more time with Kazuma and Kyo than I have with my mother and father."

He replied as he thought it over. It was true, he mused. The only times he had spent more time with them probably had been when he was too young to remember. It seemed that they were always busy and hadn't much time for him, so he wasn't really missing them much. He simply didn't know how.

"Do you miss yours?" he asked her as he moved closer to her, since he found that even though she probably wouldn't be able to do much if they tumbled off the roof, the warmth of her body was enough to keep those thoughts at bay.

She shook her head and looked at him, her eyes narrowed to orange slits that made her look like a feral cat.

"Is that a bad thing? Not missing your parents?"

Haru tilted his head up at the sky as he pondered her question.

"I don't know. I mean…It's wrong…but then if your parents really weren't there for you…I don't see why it should matter." Haru finally replied. Kyoko nodded.

"I wonder sometimes, when I see other children with their parents, whether I would be a good parent…if I had the chance…you know?"

She asked Haru, who was looking at her curiously, his expression bland as he wondered where the idea had come from. He knew that Kyoko was getting different as she got older. She didn't hit him as often and was much more nicer to him. Not that she wasn't before, but it was different between them.

He vaguely was aware of the way he was responding towards her and it kind of worried him. Was he supposed to look at her that way? Notice her hair and the way that her shirt clung to her body? Not try to inhale her scent whenever she crawled into his bed for comfort? Was it wrong?

He thought about her question, but he didn't get any images of her with children. Instead, he got an unbidden image of her flushed and lying underneath him, her hair spread all over his pillow.

Acting on impulse and impetus of that image, he leaned over and kissed Kyoko full on the mouth.

Notes- Okay. Sorry it took so long to get this out. The characters are a little older this time around because…well, the characters need to grow and it's falling into place what the parallels and foils are going to be.


	5. Find it Hard to Breathe

Chapter 4- Find it Hard to Breathe While Staring at the Sun

Kyoko didn't react negatively to Haru's impulsive action. She was simply too stunned to do anything. It was true that she had been thinking about what it would be like to get a first kiss, but never in her wildest dreams did she think it would come from her younger cousin. Not that Haru was hideous by any stretch of the imagination. No one in the Sohma family could be.

It was simply the fact that when she imagined her first kiss, she had always imagined Kyo Summers having that honor. Or maybe that grey haired boy possessed by the rat she had only seen once at the banquet... So that was why when Haru's tongue parted her lips, she simply obeyed the unspoken command and let him in to explore every recess of her mouth.

Taking it as encouragement, Haru's kiss became more forceful and harsher. He pressed himself against her, pushing her until she was lying underneath him. As his mouth worked at hers, his hands worked busily under her shirt, his cold fingers eliciting a hiss from Kyoko.

(Line Break)

Kazuma found the ladder easily enough and proceeded to climb to the roof. He was humming to himself as he anticipated telling Haru and Kyoko the news. He was sure that both of them would be happy since neither liked the schools that they had been put in as per Akito's orders and had often expressed a longing to go to the local middle school with the friends that they had made from the neighborhood.

He had just reached the top of the ladder and was about to make a comment to get their attention when he caught a glimpse of Kyoko lying underneath Haru; both of them kissing avidly, or rather Haru kissing his cousin avidly as his hands crept up under her shirt. Kyoko seemed to respond…somewhat gamely, but not with the same intensity as her male cousin. Kazuma stood on the ladder, his mouth hanging open as he watched the display of adolescent fumbling going on his roof and quietly resolved to hide all of the ladders and to put locks on her door once he managed to get over the shock of seeing his two children in the throes of semi-adult passion.

"Hatsuharu!" He yelled out, making both of them freeze at the sound of his voice. Haru's shoulders slumped and he pulled away to stare at Kazuma with a coolly feral look that made Kazuma feel a small frisson of fear. Not at what Haru could possibly do to him, but at the fact that the look was simply too adult for a twelve year old boy to have. Even being as mature as he was, Haru should still had had the open look of a boy who was just learning what pleasure the opposite sex could give him. The look he had was of a man that had claimed his territory and would fight any outsiders that would either interrupt his time with his prize or outsiders who would try to claim it.

"Oh! Shishou!" Kyoko called out, her face a bright red shade as she sat up and pushed Haru's hand away. "When did you get back?"

"Just now, Kyoko. Can both of you come downstairs? There's something I want to discuss with you." Kazuma replied calmly as he descended down the ladder first, a tactful maneuver to give both of them the chance to put themselves in a bit of order both physically and mentally.

"We'll be there shortly." Kyoko replied as she smoothed back her rumpled shirt and hair. "Right, Haru?" she asked her cousin, poking him with her elbow when he remained silent, his eyes still on the spot recently vacated by Kazuma.

He didn't reply right away and that made Kyoko worry slightly.

"Haru?" she asked, touching his arm lightly in case he did something unpredictable.

"Huh? Oh yeah. We should go down now." He answered, his eyes going to their usual warm grey, making Kyoko give out a silent sight of relief as she followed him down the ladder.

As she climbed behind him, she had to wonder why she had been so relieved. After all, nothing had happened in her past to make her afraid of any man…hadn't it?

She shook her head and kept on climbing. Haru's kiss was making her act weird, she decided and firmly resolved to push the incident out of her mind.

For now.

(Line Break)

"Are you joking, Shishou?" Kyoko asked after they had sat down for some tea while Kazuma gave them the news of their changing schools.

"But it's the middle of the school year." Kyoko argued, not really believing her good fortune at being able to finally shake off Kagura and her annoying and unwelcome overtures of friendship that had been plaguing her since she was able to go to school.

"It doesn't matter. It would be much better for the both of you to be in the same school rather than be on opposite ends of the city. Besides, even though your schools have normal people that aren't Sohmas, it would benefit you both to be in an environment closer to the normal world. Being in one gender schools isn't exactly preparing you to face the rest of the world." Kazuma replied, carefully sipping his tea.

Kyoko frowned to herself as she took a long swallow of tea. Why would Akito not care about having them in the same net as the others? Would she demand something much higher in payment for that small simple freedom?

"I feel like it's a trap, Akito letting us go and all that." Kyoko finally burst out after going over all the options in her mind. "She hates me. Why would she even want to grant something that's clearly a boon?"

Haru looked at Kazuma, his eyes narrowed as he too sought the answers from his father figure. He too, wasn't fully prepared to accept that Akito had done them a favour, however unwittingly, without having an ulterior motive.

Kazuma sighed and put his cup of tea down. He had guessed many reasons as to why Akito's gaze hadn't fallen on his two children yet. He suspected that it was possibly due to Akito knowing she had very little if no influence on what the outside of the family chose to do. He was an odd breed in that he had been spawned from an inner and hated member, yet was on the outside. One of the very few that knew without really being touched by the curse.

The other suspicion was that Akito hadn't found any particular uses for them yet; since she was terribly preoccupied with the other, more "intelligent and charming" members of the zodiac. Like figurines, she had them close to indulge the whims that where a pathetic attempt to mask the insecurity that was like a miasma over the child.

He hated seeing the broken down toys that they all had become. Jaded porcelain dolls that were no longer children or youth, just decadent and bored pseudo-aristocrats that were possibly even more damaged than she was. Hated it with a passion, but even though the disgust and pity was there, he would thank the fates that his little girl and Haru hadn't caught her eye just yet.

He was also glad that Kyoko had been slow in becoming aware of what it meant for her to be a woman and how to exploit that. He was sure that despite the age difference and the snapping at each other that Haru was the one that had initiated the little interlude on the rooftop. She was still too wrapped up in her inner demons to actually grow up. Not like Rin, who had tried to use her sexuality as a weapon and it had ended up making her its prisoner instead.

"Because she doesn't see us." Haru ended up putting the answer on the table in that coolly disaffected voice of his.

"She doesn't concern herself with us because we aren't worth the time. We're too far away from her grasp and we aren't what she fancies." Haru answered, his eyes fixed on the cup of tea in front of him.

Kyoko blinked at that answer as she took a quick gulp of tea. She knew what Haru meant. She had heard him talk about the empty eyes and bruised flesh of the "toys" when he came back from the banquet every year. Although he didn't care to go to the banquet, Kazuma took him to make a perfunctory appearance to please his parents. Despite not having Haru around, they still felt the need to keep up the charade just in case.

Thinking about the travesty of a life that Isuzu, Kureno and even Yuki were living made her insides clench in fear and anger as it hit her that once Haru's beauty was realized, he too could join them and be one of those soulless toys.

As she thought about that, the memory of his lips on hers, his hands on her heated skin assaulted her mind and something in her snapped into place. Like the rusty tumblers in an unused lock, she understood what he had been doing and why she hadn't pushed him off. If Akito took him…

"She'd better not try and take you, you dumb cow! I won't forgive her if she does!" Kyoko suddenly burst out before stalking from the table and walking away to her room. Haru and Kazuma watched her go, wincing only when a door was slammed with such force that a picture fell off the wall.

The two males looked at each other in surprised silence, before Kazuma broke it.

"I guess she's finally realized you are a male." Kazuma commented dryly before going to the closet where the broom and dustpan were kept.

"Huh." Haru replied as he helped clean up the mess the shattered frame had caused.

"It's about time she did." Haru finally replied after they had cleaned up the shattered frame.

Kazuma's eyes narrowed slightly at that comment.

"Hatsuharu-ku…"

"You said it yourself. She's realized who I am. She's not a little girl any longer. Let her grow up if she chooses to, Kazuma-dono."

"You won't make another choice even if I beg it of you?" Kazuma asked quietly.

Haru looked at him levelly, his eyes going a gun-metal grey as he did so.

"I won't. I can't. So don't stand in my way. Or hers."

Kazuma only nodded as he watched the boy knock on Kyoko's door and gain entrances, his grey eyes gleaming with an undefined emotion as the door opened and he stepped inside.

The door was quietly shut and Kazuma couldn't help but to think that even though he was still part of their lives, he was now on another level. Still loved, but separate.

Notes: As stated in the interlude, this story is going to get darker and deal with more adult situations. Haru will more or less be the adult and act more like a protector than even Kazuma because even in the series, Haru is much more than even the so-called smart ones and he is pretty much one step ahead of Kyoko emotionally and mentally. Kyoko isn't stupid, just damaged and too caught up in that to realize what is really going on around her, since Kazuma and Haru have been shielding her from most of it.

So that's it and thanks for reading.


	6. I Just Can't Look, It's Killing Me

Chapter 5- I Just Can't Look, It's Killing Me

Kureno heard the bang of a screen door being thrown open, but didn't bother looking up from the calculations he was juggling on the books before him. His hand was still moving abacus beads and his lips quietly kept track of the equations until he got them down on the ledger. He heard the footsteps rushing down the hallway and he penciled in the figures meticulously in the right columns. He didn't stop until a shadow loomed over his paperwork.

Looking up, he saw that Akito was standing in front of his desk. She was breathing hard and her hair stuck damply to her forehead and her cheeks. Her eyes were dark and shadowed, with a spark of malice in them that made Kureno wonder at what new game she had decided to try out this time and with whom.

"I want Kyoko to come with Hatsuharu this year." Akito snapped out.

"You know Kazuma won't bring her." Kureno replied flatly as he closed one ledger and opened another one. Akito sneered.

"If you pressure that bitter, spineless waste that spawned her, he will make sure that she shows up. I trust that you know what to do." She spat out as she walked out of his office and back into her apartments.

Kureno waited until he heard her slam the door shut before picking up the phone. He knew better than to disobey her.

(Line Break)

Yuki slipped out of Akito's room quietly, careful to not disturb the Goddess, even though he knew that she wouldn't wake up. Not after being given that particular sedative, at any rate. But he couldn't be too careful. She had ways of doing the unexpected.

After making sure that none of those pesky maids were about, he rushed over to his and Rin's room. It wasn't until after he had locked the door behind him that he dared to relax. It was true that he was one of the privileged, but he also was smart enough to know the cost of that position and how quickly he could be toppled from it. He had had enough warning from Shigure's exile and Hatori's wounding and that had been enough for him.

Besides, he had to make sure that nothing he did would affect Rin. He didn't want the guilt of knowing that he had driven away another woman. One was enough to have taught him his lesson.

"She did it, didn't she?" Rin asked as she brushed out her hair at the small vanity table in the corner of their suite.

"Just like you predicted she would.' Yuki replied coldy as he sat down on the bed and watched her.

Rin grimaced at the reply.

"Are you regretting it now?" The horse of the zodiac asked as she put her brush down and turned to face him.

"I don't know. I honestly didn't think she would go through the request." Yuki answered as he flicked imaginary lint off of his yukata.

"You know you can't back out now." Rin reminded him as she went over to the bed and sat down next to him.

He smiled at her as she moved closer to him, making sure that her breasts pressed up against his arm as she did so.

"I know." Yuki replied as he turned to look at her, his grey eyes steady as they did so.

"Then cheer up. You'll finally have her in your grasp. After all that was what you wanted, wasn't it?" Rin murmured.

Yuki's eyes darkened before he finally murmured something in reply as he then bent down to claim Rin's lips with his.

That was what he wanted, wasn't it?

So why did he have such a sick feeling in his gut over it?

(Line Break)

"Why did you want to meet?" Kazuma asked the bitter man sitting across from him, his dark eyes hooded as he looked at Kazuma.

"Kureno contacted me today." Kyoko's father spat out, his eyes brimming with barely concealed venom.

"And?"

"Akito wants Kyoko to come to the upcoming New Year's celebration at the family estate."

Kazuma'e eyes widened at the statement.

"No. I haven't taken her for eight years, there's no need for her to go now."

Kyoko's father's eyes narrowed at Kazuma.

"Akito wants her to show up. She will show up."

"And why should I give into Akito's whims at this point? I am not afraid of her. Kyoko will stay at home and that is all I will say about that matter."

"You aren't her real father." Kazuma's lips twitched. He knew that the other man would use that excuse as a weapon that time around.

"You know I am legally her guardian now. You can't hope to use that as a weapon against me at this point. It won't work and you know it."

Kyoko's father smiled a sick, humorless grin that was more of a baring of teeth than anything else that made Kazuma get chills down his spine at the sight.

"True. But you forget that _inside_ the family, I will always remain her father. If I tell Akito that you have refused my request, she will be taken away from you. There's no doubt about that. Absolutely none."

Kazuma bit his lip. He wasn't afraid of the man. Nor of Akito giving him orders to do certain things. But he knew that if Akito was putting pressure on Kyoko's father, there was no way he could get away with defying the head and not expect Kyoko to pay the consequences.

"She will be there then, since you request that ever so politely of me." Kazuma replied, his words carrying a double-edged frost that even Kyoko's self-absorbed father couldn't miss.

"I'm glad we see eye to eye on this, Kazuma-dono." The other man hissed as he drank more tea. Kazuma only bowed before he got up and went to the door.

"But I do expect you to pay for her kimono. After all, you can't expect Akito to think that you don't want your daughter to be suitably dressed for the occasion." Kazuma told him as he stopped to put on his sandals.

"What?" The other man practically shouted, clearly not expecting this request to come out from that conversation.

"She needs a kimono. She has come of age in all ways, so of course it would be expected that she be presented in one and after all, it is traditional that the girl's _father_ purchase her first kimono, I thought I would simply remind you."

Kazuma pointed out, making the man grind his teeth in suppressed rage, since he knew that Kazuma was right and that the only way he could save face would be for him to either withdraw the request or to foot the bill for a kimono.

"I will contact you later on the matter, Kazuma-dono. Thank you for coming by on such a short notice."

Kazuma only smiled and bowed before taking his leave of the house, knowing full well that despite everything, it had all been a pyrrhic victory for either side. He only hoped that he would be able to shield Kyoko from the worst of the fallout.

(Line Break)

Haru frowned and sat up. Something, a noise, a scent…he wasn't sure, but something had woken him up from a deep and comfortable sleep. He wanted desperately to go back to sleep, but he had a gut feeling that he had woken up for a reason and he needed to find that reason out fast.

Yawning widely, he crawled out of bed, careful to not disturb Kyoko, who was curled up in the covers and dead to the world. Smiling at the soft purring that was coming from the cocoon of covers, he tucked the covers in more tightly and quietly slipped out of the room.

Once in the hallway, he made his way to the kitchen and was not at all surprised to see Kazuma in the act of pouring himself some freshly brewed tea.

"Hatsuharu-kun. Couldn't sleep?" Kazuma asked in a level voice as he took another cup from the cupboard and proceeded to pour him a cup of tea.

"Something woke me up." Haru replied as he accepted the tea.

Kazuma nodded and invited Haru to sit with him at the table.

"Why are you up so late, sensei?" Haru asked as he took small sips of the tea, careful to not burn his tongue as he did so.

"I was out visiting Kyoko's father." Kazuma told Haru, not bothering with niceties as he also drank his tea.

"I suppose it wasn't a good meeting?" Haru asked as his mind started clicking into action.

"Akito wants Kyoko to show up at the banquet this year and put pressure on her father to make sure that it is done."

"Hn. Pretty typical of her to do so. There is no real way to avoid the summons, is there?" Haru asked thoughtfully.

"Only one and that depends on whether his desire to curry favour with Akito will outweigh the financial costs. If he is so willing to sell his daughter for a position, he should very well be prepared to spend for that."

"Hn. He won't. He's not willing to make that much a sacrifice." Haru decided as he finished his tea.

"What if he does?" Kazuma asked "My hands are more or less tied at this point. He is her father and if she disobeys him, Kyoko would be taken away from me, unless we run."

"And that takes planning and we don't have much time, what with the banquet only a month away. I suppose we will have to rely on her father's tight purse not opening an inch to pay for an expensive kimono."

"Not a good thing to rely on, but it's the only thing we have at this point." Kazuma agreed as he wondered how the fourteen year old boy in front of him could understand all too clearly what Kyoko's father as an adult couldn't.

"It'll be enough. And if it isn't, I will protect her." Haru reminded him as he stood up and put the cup in the sink before going back to what was now his and Kyoko's bedroom.

"Let's hope so, Hatsuharu-kun. Let's hope so."

(Line Break)

"I don't want to go to the fucken banquet." Kyoko stated flatly as her father and two seamstresses sat in Kazuma's living room, piles upon piles of expensive silk beside them.

She had arrived early from school due to her teacher going home ill unexpectedly. She had been looking forward to having a small nap right before she made dinner for the men in the household, but that was put on the backburner when she opened the door to find her birth father and two seamstresses and was informed that they were to make a kimono for her to wear to this New Year's Celebration.

Which Kyoko had flatly refused to attend.

"Akito has asked this of you. You can't disobey her." Her father pointed out harshly. Kyoko shook her head.

"I've been doing it for nine years, what's a few more? I'm not going to that damned banquet. Not now and not ever, so take the damned fabric and piss off."

Kyoko ordered her father harshly, her anger getting the better of her. She knew why he had come when Kazuma and Haru and the rest were out. He knew that they would tell him to leave and take his ridiculous request with him.

There was no way that she was ever going to go back to that main house while she was alive. She was the cat and she knew Akito hadn't wanted anything to do with her ever, so the summons meant something horrible would happen. Again.

Her father's eyes narrowed and he grabbed her arm, pulling her close.

"Listen here, you little monster. Akito has asked this of you and you will do it. You will get a kimono and you will go and if you don't, you are going to be put in that cage, like you should have been when you were born. Am I making myself clear?" He hissed at her, his face inches from her as he spoke.

"You wouldn't dare." Kyoko hissed back, but her voice wavered slightly as she spoke.

Her father smiled cruelly as he pulled out the letter with the all too familiar stamp on it. She didn't have to read it to know what it said. She had seen that seal before when she had gone to live with Kazuma, when Haru had been made a permanent resident of their little household. She was beaten and she knew it.

"Fine. You win. I'll go." She finally relented and motioned the women to come to her room.

"Don't disappoint me." Her father called out.

"Fuck you."

(Line Break)

Haru found her in the middle of the room, her hair loose in heavy waves about her shoulders and wearing a heavy and rich kimono in shades of deep red and brown that complimented her skin, hair and eyes perfectly. She was kneeling and it looked like she had been crying before he got there.

"I guess you have to go to the banquet?" he asked her softly as he reached out and caressed her cheek. She sniffed and her hands clenched on her lap.

"He gave me no choice. He came when none of you were here and of course, Kunimitsu and Kyo can't do anything. I had no choice!" She whispered angrily. "None and he knew it." Haru murmured in agreement as he pulled her into his lap and started stroking her hair. They sat like that for what felt like hours, the silence stretching out companionably between them until Kazuma knocked on the door.

"Haru? Kyoko? Are you allright?"

"Yeah. Come in." Haru had replied. Kazuma obeyed the summons and entered the room, his sunny expression going stormy when he saw the kimono that Kyoko was wearing as well as her tear-stained face.

"I take it your father was here to deliver the news." Kazuma asked gently as he knelt down and pushed a lock of orange hair behind her ear.

"I have no choice. I have to go, but at least Haru will be there." Kyoko replied, the steel going back in her voice, her fit of self-pity over and done with.

Kazuma smiled at that, glad that even though her father intended for her to wallow in self-pity, she was rising above it and wouldn't let herself get beaten down by it.

(Line Break)

"She's here." Rin whispered to Yuki as she sat down next to him, careful to not let her too-short skirt ride up.

"Out in the garden. I told her Akito wanted to see her there and she's waiting for you. She's all yours." Rin whispered as they pretended to watch yet another New Years Dance.

"Good, but what about him?" Yuki muttered as he took another sip of sake- his sixth one of the night- and motioned to Haru who although looked like he didn't have a care in the world, was watching everything around him with hooded eyes.

"That's the best part. Don't worry about it. I'll take care of him." Rin whispered just at the exact time that the music stopped, signaling the dance being over.

"You only have about ten minutes. Make the best of them." She whispered as he took one last swig of the alcohol and slipped away before anyone could notice.

(Line Break)

He hadn't expected to be dumbfounded when he saw her. He only slightly recalled a tomboyish girl with long, messy hair and dark red eyes. What he found in the garden was far removed from what he was looking for or expected.

He found a woman. A woman wearing wine red and sepia robes that complimented the tan skin and russet hair. A woman that he wanted to possess, fully and completely.

"Kyoko" He called out to her and watched as she turned to him, her eyes wide as she saw him standing there.

"Yu-Yuki?" she whispered as she rushed up to him.

"Yuki…My god. You're…you're nothing like I expected." She told him as she reached up and cradled his pale face in her hands.

Yuki laughed a bit at that and put his own hands over hers.

"Likewise. I…kept thinking about you. All those years. I wondered how you were." Yuki murmured as his hands moved from her hands and down to her waist before he dipped his head and kissed her passionately.

Kyoko's eyes widened and even though the kiss was nice and skilled, a far cry from Haru's first attempt on her, but it had no real emotion behind her. With Haru, she _knew _that he meant it with all his heart. With Yuki, it was mechanical and Kyoko was sure he would display the same passion when doing anything else.

She put her hands against his chest once she had gotten over her shock at being kissed and forcefully shoved him away from her.

"Why did you push me away?" Yuki asked, surprised that she hadn't given in like Rin always did. Flustered and unsure, he reached out and grabbed her arm tightly.

"Let go of me, Yuki." Kyoko hissed as she fought to pull away from him.

"No. I'm not going to do it again. I was weak and stupid as a child. I'm not letting you go. Not now, not ever." Yuki told her, his eyes cool and serious as he pulled her close and kissed her again, this time harder and more forcefully than before.

Kyoko attempted to scream through the kiss, but Yuki's mouth muffled the sound. Failing at that, she tried to push him away again and even kick him were it counted, but the kimono hobbled her effectively. She had no choice but to receive the hard, angry kiss that Yuki was giving her.

And hope that she would be able to get away from him before things got out of hand.

(Line Break)

Haru's eyes glowed angrily as he pushed Rin away and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"You ever kiss me again, I'll make you regret it." Haru gritted through clenched teeth as she walked away from a dumbfounded and furious Rin.

"I'm not good enough for you, Hatsuharu?" she asked in a mocking voice, her face flushing redder than before.

"You'd rather get kissed by some stupid slut than me?" Haru's eyes narrowed and he rushed at Rin, effectively pinning her against the wall, leaving her gasping for breath at the shock of the sudden fury the ox displayed.

"I'll say this once and only once, so listen carefully. The "Stupid Slut" you refer to is Kyoko, who will always be much more than you could even think of being. Don't ever call her that in my presence if you want for me to even acknowledge your pathetic existence, understood?"

Rin turned even an even deeper shade of scarlet, but she nodded. She knew better than to annoy Haru further. She knew he wouldn't hit a girl, but she didn't want to test the theory either.

He only shook his head as he turned and left her standing there, drowning in shame and mortification and the seething need for revenge…

(Line Break)

Haru could hear Akito's screams of rage, but he didn't register them. He was worried about Kyoko and was intent on looking for her.

His brow furrowed when he passed by the same room again and he swore softly, cursing himself for having the worst sense of direction. Ever.

He turned and was about to go back the same way he had come when he felt someone tug on his sleeve.

"Kisa-chan?" He asked the little girl, whose yellow eyes were huge and wide in her face as she looked up at him.

"Are you looking for Kyo-neechan?" She whispered so low he had trouble hearing.

"Can you take me to her?" He asked, feeling slightly foolish that he was asking a young girl for directions.

Kisa nodded and dragged him off into the garden.

Just in time to see Kyoko try to pull away from Yuki, only to be dragged back and kissed forcefully and clearly against her will.

Seeing that made Haru's rage rise and he rushed out to the garden, intent on saving his Kyoko from Yuki.

He was sure that he was going to kill him once he got his hands on him. Although he had made his peace with the rat, the simply possessive instinct that any person felt towards his partner erased that truce that had been built through the years. Kyoko was _his_ woman, he wouldn't let anyone else touch her that way. Ever.

He would have, if it hadn't been for Akito grabbing him at what was the last moment.

"You won't! You won't!" She screamed as she shoved him away. Haru blinked and stumbled over the bench by the pond. He felt himself flailing, trying to grab onto anything that would stop his fall, but he knew he had failed when he heard the crunching thud of bone meeting hard stone and the pain shot through the back of his skull the front like red lighting across his vision. He felt himself falling further and the next thing he knew he was engulfed in icy water.

He could hear Kyoko screaming his name and he looked up through the water, but he only saw a blurred figure in red and brown before it was all black.

(Line Break)

Yuki sipped the hot tea, as he watched Hatori speak with Kyoko and Kazuma. He was only shaking a bit now that the excitement had died down. After Haru had fallen into the deceptively deep pond in the garden and he had had to fight to keep Kyoko from going after Haru, Kazuma and the others had shown up. Shigure and Kureno had pulled Akito away to calm her down and Hatori had begun to work on a blue and bloody Haru that Kazuma had pulled out of the pond.

And now that Hatori had finished working on Haru and was speaking with Kazuma and Kyoko he once again asked himself how it happened to go so wrong. He had wanted to be Kyoko for so long, he had never entertained the possibility that she wouldn't feel the same. Even though he had sensed that Haru had some kind of feelings towards her, he had never thought that Kyoko was returning those feelings.

But now that he looked back, he was cursing himself for not seeing the clear signs of it when he had been at the dojo. The way that Kyoko would stop and look at Haru as she had brought them drinks. The way that her hands had lingered just a touch too long on his arm before she left. It had all been there and he had been a fool and now he was sure that he had hurt both of them deeply.

"Penny for your thoughts, Yuki?" Hatori's voice broke through his silent soliloquy of self-pity, making him shake his head and look up at his older cousin.

"How is he?"

Hatori frowned and pulled out a cigarette and lit it before saying anything.

"The shock of falling in the water caused his heart to stop. Luckily we got it beating again quite quickly. He got some water in his lungs, but he should have no lasting effects from that. What is more worrying is the head injury. The force of the trauma caused bleeding in the occipital area. He could be blind, possibly even have some cognitive problems for all we know."

Yuki hissed through his teeth at the severity of Haru's injuries.

"Does Kyoko know?" he asked as he put his cup down and stood up.

"I wouldn't dream of keeping it from her, Yuki." Hatori replied tersely.

Yuki nodded and rubbed his face briskly before facing Hatori.

"I should go and…"

"Don't even dream of it. She's not in a good state of mind and the fact that you held her back when everything was happening isn't sitting too well with her at this point in time. She's blaming you for Haru's accident."

Yuki felt his heart sink at the bottom of his chest when he heard this, despite admitting deep down that she did have a right to do so. After all, if he hadn't kissed her in the garden, Haru wouldn't have come after him, along with Akito…

"Yuki…I know that you had a different idea on how things would have turned out…but now that things have come to this, I would tell you to stay clear from Kyoko and Haru. We have enough strife in this family."

Hatori told him as he took a drag from his cigarette.

Yuki sighed and nodded, even though he could feel the ice starting to rebuild in his heart once more.

(Line Break)

Kyoko ran through the woods, not caring that her feet were being cut up and torn up by the harsh underbrush. Her raggedly hacked off hair collected twigs and leaves, but she didn't notice. She stumbled and fell. Her yukata skirt got tangled in a thicket of brambles, but she ripped it loose, ignoring the long scratches left by the brambles.

Her only thought was that she had to run as fast as possible. She had to get away. Get away from him, the one with the slanted brown eyes and vacant smile and the feel of his hands on her. Blood trickled down her bare legs, but she barely felt it. The pain had all coalesced into a single mass that was blocking almost everything else out except the most basic instincts.

The cat had taken over and she was simply obeying it without conscious thought. Kyoko the girl was no longer there.

Notes: I do apologize for the delay of this chapter. I've been horribly busy at the school I teach and I only have access to the net at the school, so hence the long gaps in between.

The Kimono Issue I mentioned is pretty much the way it is laid out here. Most girls get a kimono when they come of age. I made it that the Sohma family has this tradition at 15 rather than 18 due to their semi-aristocratic lineage and yes, they can get pricey. Kyoko's father was never given a name and I am not even touching that can of worms. Nope.

Yuki and Rin do care about each other…as much as they can, but Rin knows that Yuki wants Kyoko. It's this twisted loyalty that makes her be willing to be an accomplice to him. She only sees Haru as a conquest, nothing more. Her heart really is with Yuki.

Haru's accident-Your heart really CAN stop if you fall in water like that. Live in Canada…we should know these things. He.

As for Kyoko…Not telling (grins) wait till the next chapter which is coming sooner than this one. This is where it starts to get really dark and Tohru comes in and the universe kind of follows the nearly same pattern as the basic universe.

And Thank You so much to all the people that read and review this story and the others I have posted up. Your comments are much appreciated. bows

Thank you.


	7. I'm Taking Control

Chapter 6- I'm Taking Control

"I'm happy you're leaving." Rin told him as she watched him pack the last of his clothes and close the large suitcase with a sharp snap.

Yuki looked up from his task and frowned at Rin's comment.

"Why? You're going to be alone with her. That's not a position I would want for anyone to be in." Yuki replied as he brushed a hand through his hair.

Rin shrugged. "She's starting to suspect something. I'm not going to be here much longer. The only reason why I'm still here is because she's trying to decide what exile will the worst for me to get."

Yuki nodded and sat down on the bed in the now empty room.

He had been officially banished now that the whole New Year's banquet fiasco and its repercussions had played out. Haru was blind now and had been smuggled away by a silent Kazuma. Kyoko had been missing for close to four months and if anyone asked Akito where the cat was, she would simply smile sarcastically. The only thing that remained of Kyoko was the expensive kimono that Akito had triumphantly handed to Kazuma and Haru before telling them more or less to disappear from her sight completely.

Although Yuki had been a favourite, she had treated him as harshly as the others that had trespassed against her. Yuki shuddered slightly as he recalled the three days he had been locked in the pitch black room she had painted for him years ago with nothing but a bucket of water to drink and a pile of straw in the corner as she had alternated between ignoring him and whipping him until his back was raw and bloody.

After all of that, she had had the maids pull him out and clean him up. Once that had been done, he had been dragged in front of her and was casually informed he was banished to Shigure's house until he had learned his lesson. She had lost no time in having his belonging shipped over and had left him to pack up his clothes. And then he would be in Shigure's house.

He didn't know whether to be relieved or depressed about the forced exile. For one thing, he was getting the freedom that he had so long dreamed about, but despaired of ever receiving. This desire had led him to be a hedonistic and apathetic brat that only cared for his creature comforts and nothing more. It wasn't that he liked being that way, but rather it was protection to keep him from going insane in the steel cage that the Sohma family was. If it hadn't been for Rin being at his side like a headstrong shadow, he probably would have given into his madness.

But he was leaving her behind. He wished there was something he could do to repay all that she had done for him, despite the disastrous way that things had ended up, but he knew of no way to do so. And he hated the fact that there wasn't anything he could do. Once again, he was simply nothing more than the plaything of fate.

He sighed and wondered whether that was also part of his curse: to watch the women in his life suffer, yet be able to do nothing for them.

He shook his head and got back to the present time. At least he could have a proper goodbye with one of them. He knew that was impossible with Kyoko. Now and forever. He still couldn't forget the hatred that had shone in her eyes when he had pulled her away from Haru and the pond. He knew that she was simply acting on emotion and adrenaline. Nothing more. He also knew that if she had jumped in, she would have drowned. A romantic, but utterly futile gesture that would have gotten her nothing in the end.

But she would never see it that way and he would never get the chance to tell her so.

"Thank God for small blessings, I suppose." he finally commented as he idly played with the blanket covering the bed in an effort to calm the swirling eddies of emotion that were rocking within him. Rin laughed softly and sat down next to him.

They sat in silence for several moments before Yuki glanced at Rin, who was staring at him intently.

"When are you leaving?" She asked as her hand trailed its way up his arm, to his shoulder and then into his shirt.

"In an hour. As soon as Hatori is finished with her. Why?"

"I want to say good-bye properly." Rin murmured as her hands appeared to be everywhere on his body.

Yuki's breath caught in a soft hitch in his throat as her hands started doing the amazing things that they always did in order to get a response from him.

Rin smiled a bittersweet smile as she gently pushed him down on the bed.

"Don't worry about a thing. Just lay back and promise to remember this."

"I promise."

(Line Break)

Tohru Honda trudged along the woods, her legs moving despite her exhaustion. She had just finished working her shift and was yawning in anticipation of sleeping in her cheap, but comfortable sleeping bag. She thanked her lucky stars that she had been able to finish her homework before school had been done so that all she had to do was wash her face and sleep in preparation of the new school day.

"Oh mother. I'm so tired. Even though it was a good day. I hope you weren't too lonely without me." She thought as she caught glimpse of her small tent nestled in the woods.

She had been living there for the past few days until her grandfather's house was done being remodelled. Even though her friends would have surely aided her, she didn't want to be a burden to them. That was why she had ended up living in the woods by herself. She was sure she was safe there, since she hadn't seen a single soul for miles since she had made her way there.

"I just hope Uo-chan and Hana-chan stop worrying. I am fine here. It'll be just for a few more days." Tohru said as she went inside her tent.

And gave a shriek when she found a girl her age sleeping deeply on her bedroll.

Willing her heart to stop beating so hard, she warily got closer to the girl. Although she was tired, her tiredness melted away to be replaced by pity when she got a closer look at her uninvited guest. The girl had ragged bright orange hair that lay a few inches below her shoulders in a tangled and jagged mess. Her face was dirty and scored with scratches and bruises. Her hands too, were incredibly filthy, cut up and chapped as were her feet. The robe she was clothed in was little more than a rag and did almost nothing to cover the swells and curves of her body, which was as badly mistreated as the rest of her.

The only part of her that was in a reasonable state was a red and white bracelet that was around her right wrist. That piece of jewellery made Tohru curious and she reached out to touch it. She had just brushed her fingertips across it and was shocked when the girl's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist with surprising strength.

So shocked was she that she forgot herself and screamed loudly.

"Who's there?" A male voice called right before the front flap of her tent was pulled open to reveal Yuki Sohma, easily the most popular and most beautiful boy in Kaibara High and a dark haired older man wearing a yukata.

"Ah! Sohma-kun!" Torhu managed to gasp out. The girl with orange hair heard that name and she yanked Torhu towards her, making the girl give out another shriek.

"Kyoko!" Yuki exclaimed, his eyes widening as he took in the wretched state his cousin was in. How had she managed to survive for four months like that?

With his minds full of thoughts and memories of her, he reached out to touch her.

But Kyoko simply hissed at him and backed away. Right at the same time there was a loud "poof" and a cloud of orange smoke. When the cloud had disappeared, Tohru found herself with a lapful of an orange cat with a large belly.

"AHHHH!"

Yuki looked at Shigure, who looked back at him before both of them looked at the utterly shocked Torhu and the hissing Kyoko.

"This is going to be a long night, I assume."

(Line Break)

"Where is the girl?" Hatori asked as he briskly moved the washcloth over Kyoko's unconscious body in an effort to clean her up as much as possible without the benefits of a bath, since he was worried she would react badly to waking up in a tub-full of water. So he worked doggedly, removing most of the dirt until the natural tan showed through.

"She's upstairs sleeping. She's got a bit of a fever and seeing Kyoko-chan turn into a cat probably didn't do much for her either." Shigure commented as he put a new bowl of water down and took the dirty one to the kitchen and emptied it without complaint.

"I don't know how exactly we're going to deal with this mess." Hatori muttered as he finally finished with his administrations and began the task of giving Kyoko a thorough medical examination.

Shigure simply looked on, his expression neutral as he watched his cousin complete his duties.

Once he was done, he pulled the covers over the naked body and stood up.

"Considering she was living in the wild for months, she's in good shape. Slightly malnourished, but otherwise fine. The cuts will heal in time. The only concern is the fact that she looks to be about twelve to fourteen weeks pregnant."

Shigure was a man that prided himself on not being surprised easily. But the stark news his cousin was giving him made him freeze for a couple of minutes. Kyoko-chan? Pregnant?

"How?" He finally managed to mouth out after an unsuccessful series of attempts to speak.

Hatori sighed.

"My guess is the day at the main house. That would explain why she suddenly shot out of the house as if she had the devil running after her."

Shigure's eyes darkened at the mention of that day.

"But who?" he asked as his stomach tied itself in knots as his mind supplied possible candidates.

"Haru or someone else." Hatori replied tersely, making Shigure get his second shock of the day.

"Why Haru? He's not one to do something so barbaric!"

"I'm not talking about the specific act, idiot. Haru and Kyoko were well known to have something between them. She could be pregnant from that or from the attack. We won't know until the child is born...that's if she wants it to be born." Hatori added as an afterthought.

When do you propose on bringing that up with her? If it hadn't been for Tohru-kun holding her she would have bolted. Whatever Akito put her through as well as the time she spent in the woods has made her little more than a wild animal." Shigure pointed out to the dragon.

"In time she'll come back. She needs a place that she can feel secure in while her mind heals."

"Where do you suggest that happen?" Shigure asked carefully, already guessing at the answer.

"Would you mind? I know that you're deeply submerged in your webs and games, but I know you aren't that big of a fool to do any willful harm to either Yuki, Kyoko or that girl."

Shigure smiled one of the rare, cunning and utterly chilling smiles that very few people apart from Hatori and Akito rarely saw.

"Clever Hari. But why not give her over to Kazuma and Haru? They are after all, more of a family than Yuki and I are at this point." Shigure pointed out reasonably.

"Kazuma took Haru away to better help him with his blindness and they won't be back for awhile yet."

"I suppose that is the official version?" Shigure as he finally sat down at the low dining room table, close to where Kyoko was sleeping deeply.

"Somewhat. Kazuma was worried that Haru was going to fade away waiting for her. He still hadn't given up hope of finding her, but he was being pragmatic and taking safeguards to also not lose his son." Hatori explained as he pulled out a cigarette and motioned Shigure to walk out to the porch with him.

"Besides, "Hatori continued after he had lit his cigarette. "She trusts that girl and she could be the one that heals her completely from this episode. If it hadn't been for her, I'm sure we probably wouldn't have even gotten her away from the woods, never mind into the house."

Shigure nodded as he sucked on his cigarette.

"It's decided. I'll stop by the main house to let Akito know what has changed."

Hatori frowned at Shigure and was about to open his mouth to comment on his intentions when Shigure raised a hand.

"Don't worry, Hari. I know when to push and when to retreat. I can guarantee that things will come out as we expect them to. Trust me."

(Line Break)

Yuki raised his head from his school books when he heard the door open and slide shut and footsteps saunter into the living room.

"What did she say?" he asked warily as Shigure removed his shoes and shrugged off his jacket. Tohru was busy making up dinner and Kyoko was still asleep, the sedatives that Hatori had given her still in her system and doing their job well.

"She's agreed to have Tohru and Kyoko here. The banishment still remains. And we aren't to contact Kazuma-san and Haa-kun until they are back. No sense in interrupting Haa-kun's therapy." Shigure said, twisting his face into an ironic and snide grin at the last bit.

Yuki shook his head and closed his book.

"How long until they come back?"

"About a month or two."

Yuki nodded and turned to look at Kyoko, who was curled up on her side, her arms curled loosely around her middle, her hair all over her face.

As he watched her sleep, Shigure's words echoed in his mind. '_One or two months'_ he had to wonder if this was the chance he had been waiting for. He thought about it all through supper and the evening and the more he turned the idea in his head, the more it made sense.

He had been given another chance and he wasn't going to screw this up.

End of Chapter 6

Notes: Kyoko's demeanor and actions are consistent with trauma. Although they are exaggerated, withdrawal of any kind does follow after a severe emotional and physical trauma. In Kyoko's case, I also made it that she would have let her animal counterpart take over and hence the reason for her being like an abused animal. Zodiac members revert to their animal form when weak or stressed, that was why Kyoko turned when Tohru and the others found her. And yes, Tohru has now entered the picture. A bit differently than in the manga, but she will play an important part. Haru and Kazuma will be back...no more spoilers for now and thanks once again for reading.


	8. Standing in the Sea

Warnings: Severe Introspection up ahead.

Chapter 7-Standing in the Sea

Kyoko sat in the bathtub, staring at her scratched up legs through the milky bathwater. It smelled like some delicate flowers and herbs and felt good against her abused and sensitive skin. Hatori had explained that it would help in healing her cuts and chapped skin. She had understood him and only nodded her head when he had gotten her into the bathtub and left her there, since she had been too weak to walk there herself.

She was annoyed that even though they had found her a week and a half ago, she was still as weak as a newborn. Only sheer will had kept her from transforming too often.

She moved her foot slowly and wondered how she had even managed to get to Tohru's? Was that the name they had told her? She frowned as she moved her fingertips through the water, making eddies and ripples in the milky smoothness. She wished she could remember that part much more clearly.

She recalled Akito slicing her clothes. She recalled being shoved into the yukata by the ever present maids. There were words. She could remember screaming at Akito...right before the older woman pounced on her and hacked off her hair. She knew that someone else was in the room. She had felt other hands. Slender, with long fingers that held her down as Akito wrecked her hair.

Kyoko shuddered as she recalled her wrists being held down and tied by wire as her robe was pulled open. Those same hands had traveled the length of her body, forcing her to endure painful caresses that had made her mind pull back with every minute that the actions lasted. She had bled from them. She had felt as if she had been torn apart from the inside out.

She shuddered as the memories came like the swirling tide. She had pushed them away, or rather the cat had for all those months. Having them come back like scenes of a movie she had unwillingly starred in made her want to go back to that room in the back of her mind and lock herself up inside. It was there. It was all so tempting to simply give up and go back to being taken care of.

But...she didn't want to live that way any longer. The few times that her mind had come back had been almost too painful to endure. She had always found herself in the middle of the woods or close to the river's edge, looking at the cuts and scars that she hadn't any idea how she had gotten them and inevitably had fallen into a soundless screaming fit that would drive her back into the room and leave the cat in control once more. It wasn't the way to live, she had realized when she had first woken up, bandaged and warm and with that girl looking at her with those bottomless eyes.

There was also the matter of the child growing inside of her.

She frowned and shifted in the tub to look down at her abdomen that had started to round out a bit. She had noticed it...awhile ago. In her last lucid period, but hadn't thought of it until Hatori had examined her while she was awake and explained that she was pregnant. By about sixteen weeks.

The numbers meant nothing to her. The news that she was going to be a mother at sixteen had pushed everything else away. That was the main reason why she had yet to speak. She was still adjusting to having coherent thoughts rather than the simple animalistic ones of food, movement and shelter.

Making sense of such a bombshell was occupying her strength and her mind. Hatori and Shigure had said things would come back. Maybe a little too slowly for her liking, but it would all start to make sense. She was grateful for their words. It meant a lot that she hadn't any pressure to get better. She could take her time and unravel the knot tied tightly in her mind. It was coming loose, but it still took time.

The knock on the door startled her, but she willed herself to stay still and wait as the door opened.

"It's time for supper, Kyoko-chan. Do you want to come out now?" Shigure asked as he moved slowly towards the bathtub.

She must have frowned or shown some indication of surprise when she saw Shigure rather than Hatori, since the dog had smiled and shrugged.

"Hari had to go back to the main house, but he'll be back. Do you want to come out now?"

Kyoko nodded and willed herself to not fight him as he wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her out. It wasn't that she felt trapped. The men in the house had done nothing that would make her suspicious or want to attack. Rather, it was the fact that she was helpless and dependent on her cousins for almost everything that ate at her. It was stupid. But there was no point in trying to analyze pride.

He didn't have any problems wrapping her up in the towel and carrying her to his study, where they had set up a temporary room for her. At least until she could move about well enough on her own. Setting her carefully on the futon, he handed her another towel and pulled out another yukata for her to wear. Nodding, Kyoko rubbed herself and her hair dry and pulled the yukata on without once relying on Shigure for his help, a small accomplishment, but something she was proud of. The first few days had been excruciatingly humiliating, since she was so exhausted she couldn't even force her arms through the sleeves of the yukata she had been bundled in.

"Do you want to try walking again?" Shigure asked her once she had signaled she was finished dressing. Kyoko nodded and pulled herself up to her feet with his help. And proceeded to start walking. Although it was a painfully slow process, with Kyoko slowly putting one foot in front of the other and not taking a step until she was sure that she wasn't going to collapse, Shigure didn't mind. He was glad that she was fighting to regain her independence. He had worried when she had been unable to even hold a pair of chopsticks, that first evening when she had finally woken up. Hatori had said it was simply the exhaustion and the living rough that had finally taken their toll on her body. Alarming, but she would be up and back to normal once she was able to get a decent sleep and proper food. Now that she was getting taken care of, Hatori's words had come to pass.

"Kyoko-chan! Did you walk here by yourself?" Tohru asked the silent girl as Shigure helped her sit down at the table. Kyoko ducked her head and nodded, a faint blush staining her cheeks as she did so.

"I'm so glad to see that! You'll be walking around in no time then! I'll just go get the tea and we'll sit down to eat dinner." Tohru exclaimed as she rushed into the kitchen.

Kyoko watched her go, a small smile of either amusement or affection slightly curving her lips when Yuki came in from the porch and sat down beside her.

"How are you feeling now, Kyoko-chan?" he asked politely as he settled himself comfortably for dinner. Kyoko's eyes widened and her cheeks flamed with scarlet colour before she looked down at the table. She wouldn't have known what to say to him even if she had been able to speak. What exactly was he, other than being another cousin and the rat of the zodiac? No matter how much she tried to get information about him from her memories, they were nothing but confused images. Even when she dug far back into her past, wading through her childhood memories that contained loneliness and pain in the early years and then warmth and acceptance when Shishou and Haa-kun came into her life; anything that may have contained information on Yuki had been erased. It was all gone.

She could have accepted the fact that there was nothing there if it hadn't been for the uneasy feeling she got when Yuki came near. If she could compare it to something, she would say it was the scent of an animal in heat. She could feel it whenever he got too close. He probably didn't realize it, but it didn't help to put her mind at ease. Especially since she didn't understand why he'd want to bother with her. She was _pregnant. _Even the male animals in the woods stayed away from her. Shigure and Hatori acted a little off when they had found out. It was male nature to shy away from a breeding female. So why was he in heat over her?

Shigure watched the emotions play across Kyoko's face as Tohru bustled about them, serving dinner and pouring tea for them. Yuki had gotten distracted by Tohru's appearance and had also backed away from Kyoko, thinking that she was still too deep in shock to respond to him. So as Tohru got things ready and laid out, Shigure took the opportunity to watch Kyoko.

He was worried that the proximity to Yuki had triggered a relapse, but from what he could tell, she was trying to figure Yuki's motives. He himself had taken pains to not be ambiguous with her, since he knew that she still wasn't fully thinking like her old self yet. She only could think about what was being presented to her rather than the subtleties of human behaviour. She probably was aware that Yuki was interested in a different way than the others and was probably wondering why. As far as he could tell, she hadn't prior knowledge of him. It was as if the shock had wiped him from her mind and he was trying to make up for lost time. But going about it in the stupidest way possible.

Kyoko was clearly uncomfortable with the attention and whether she would accept his overtures when he was finally made aware of what he was doing would be another matter altogether.

Frowning as he picked up his chopsticks, Shigure wondered whether he could exploit a couple of channels if things went as badly as he was expecting they would if they continued in such a way.

(Line Break)

Yuki sat in Shigure's makeshift study and waited for his older cousin to finish lighting his cigarette and tell him the reason why he wanted to talk to him.

"I'm going to be uncharacteristically blunt about this, Yuki." Shigure said as he took a drag of his cigarette. "It's better if you either come clean to Kyoko about your feelings or stay away until you can be sure that nothing is going to happen between you. It's confusing the poor girl and quite honestly, she's not mentally well enough to even begin to deal with the repercussions this would bring upon both her head and yours."

Yuki blinked at Shigure's words. Was he that obvious in his overtures?

"In case you are wondering, you're not obvious. Tohru and Hatori haven't noticed anything as of yet." Shigure exhaled and took another drag quickly.

"I also would tell you to simply let her alone until you get over your emotions."

Yuki's eyes narrowed at the older man's words.

"You have stepped over the line, Shigure." Yuki warned him in a cool voice. Shigure looked straight at Yuki and shook his head slowly.

"And you haven't? She's Haa-kun's, Yuki. She made her choice at the banquet. Don't you understand that she's got someone else?"

Yuki's eyes narrowed at the baldly spoken words. He knew it. Knew it all too well, but he didn't want to admit defeat. Not yet. She was the only woman that he had ever wanted. Ever since he had seen her at the banquet that first time, she had haunted his dreams. He didn't ask for many things, but she was the only one that he was sure would be able to help him unlock the part of his heart that he was deeply afraid would never come to light ever again.

That was why, despite all the guilt that he could feel seeping into his heart when he thought about Haru, he couldn't give up his dream.

"It doesn't matter to me." Yuki replied harshly. "There's a month for me to win her heart in. I don't care about the consequences. I want her."

Shigure's eyes narrowed at the words. He understood all too well what it meant to pursue a nearly impossible dream. He could sympathize with Yuki on that score, but he also knew that despite Yuki's determination; he was still too young and too sunk into the decay and darkness that was the main house. He spoke bravely, but Shigure knew that he was still far from ready.

All of them were.

"She's pregnant, Yuki. Do you want to deal with that also? If you take her from Haru, you'd have to face that it's not just her. There's a child involved. A child that could be Haru's, or another man's. Can you honestly tell me that you can handle dealing with that at this point?"

He would have preferred to not tell him those news, but he had to make it clear that this wasn't adolescent seduction any longer. More than simple desire was at stake and if he was truly willing to throw all chances to the wind, he had to understand what he was truly signing up for before it was too late and he hurt not just Kyoko, but the child as well.

And Yuki didn't need anymore guilt than he already had.

Yuki stared at him with open mouthed shock as he let the news sink in. Kyoko? Pregnant? How?

"Come off it, Yuki. Did you really think that she was going to be a virgin forever?" Shigure asked him softly.

"I didn't expect it." Yuki snapped. "Who's the father anyways?"

"It could be Haru or it could be someone as yet to be determined. She was raped at the main house. That was why she ran away." Shigure concluded quietly as he ground out his cigarette in his ashtray.

When he looked up at his cousin, his eyes were softer and apologetic.

"Do you see now why it can't happen?"

(Line Break)

Kazuma stared at the telegram, feeling both sad and relieved at the same time. His daughter, his precious daughter had been found. In need of healing and carrying another life inside of her, but alive. Now he had to make the decision to either wait until she was more stable, or to ease the misery of his son. But what at cost? Would either of them have the strength to deal with the repercussions the banquet?

He sighed and hid the telegram in the desk as he went to look for Haru.

He only hoped that his gamble would pay off for the best.

Notes: this is a very introspective chapter since Kyoko hasn't had a voice in the last few chapters. At least not significantly. She isn't going to go back to normal for some time, since trauma takes quite a long time to be healed even half-way. In some parts she refers to herself and others as you would to animals, but that is because she is still fairly heavily under the influence of the animal counterpart until she is healed enough for her human side to fully be dominant. It isn't MPD by any stretch of the imagination, but disassociation that helps the victim survive in a situation where they would have just lost it completely. In Kyoko's case, this means that the cat part of her being would take over.

Thanks for reading once again and I will try to update this much quicker. Bye!


	9. Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night

Chapter 8-Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night

Haru held the plastic broom loosely in his hands as he swept the front steps of a house that had been unoccupied for close to six months. He hadn't been there since he had fallen in the pond during the banquet. Hatori had taken him away to an institute for the blind and before Kyoko and Kazuma could join him, Kyoko had been called to the main house and had disappeared. No matter how hard they searched for her, no clue had turned up. None.

Haru's hands clenched around the broomstick as the memories of that dark time came flooding back. Not only was he left to deal with the permanent darkness, he also had been torn from the woman he loved. For what looked like forever.

If it hadn't been for the constant support of Kazuma, Kyo and Kunimitsu, he would have probably faded away to nothing. Even though the pain of losing Kyoko was like a fresh cut every day that wouldn't stop bleeding, their cheery optimism and quiet empathy had pulled him back and had made him want to get his life back rather than giving in and becoming nothing but a mute doll.

He worked diligently until he was able to pretty much manage with just a little help from Kazuma. He quickly mastered braille and had learned to be proficient with the cane as well. Despite his tendency to get lost in the most obvious places, he had learned to map his surroundings extremely well, although he did still need someone to guide him if he was travelling further than five blocks from his home.

Learning new life skills had enabled him to slowly stop his mind from cracking as badly as it would have if he had only spent his time brooding over Kyoko and imagining the worst. Once he had mastered what he needed to learn, he had been able to begin to enjoy the smaller things in life again. He had never lost hope that Kyoko would return to him and had nearly been beside himself when Kazuma had pulled him aside and told him that Kyoko had been found. His joy had been horribly short lived. He shook his head as he then realized how tightly he was holding the broomstick. Wouldn't do for him to break the only tool he had for sweeping the bracken and leaves away from the house.

His lip curled into a sneer as the memory of that day came back to him vividly.

_(Flashback)_

Haru was sitting in the chair that always seemed to collect the sunshine in a pool around it. It didn't matter that he couldn't see it. He was quite content to sit and doze in the imagined yellow warmth that the sun created. He only went to sit there when he needed to completely empty his thoughts. Even of her. Sitting in the soothing warmth always helped him get his spirits back up again. Looking back, he shouldn't have been so surprised that was the place that he received the news from Kazuma.

"Hatsuharu-kun." Kazuma called to him. He hadn't wanted to come out of his doze, but he also knew that his father wouldn't bother him if it wasn't important, so he dragged himself out of his stupor to listen to him.

"What is it?" Haru asked in a sleepy drawl.

"I have received a telegram and a call from Shigure-san." Kazuma replied in a barely restrained voice.

"It seems that a girl that was camping in the woods near Shigure's house found Kyoko." Haru sat up sharply.

"Is...Is..how is she?" He asked in a strangled voice. She had been missing for four months. He was sure that she wasn't going to show up in the same state as she had when she had run off. He had heard from Hatori, who had over-heard some of the maids whispering that 'the monster' had run off with her hair badly sheared and blood and bruises all over and wearing nothing more than a thin sleeping kimono. Unless she had snuck back to the house without Kunimitsu or Kyo noticing there was no way that she was going to be in any kind of decent shape.

He couldn't see it, but he could feel Kazuma's face darken at the question. As if a cloud had passed in an otherwise perfectly clear sky.

"Malnourished and suffering from the effects of exposure. She was also like a wild animal when she first came, which was two weeks ago. According to Shigure-san, she is in a much better condition than before, but she still hasn't spoken. It seems like the shock that drove her out there is still fairly evident."

Haru frowned at the comments. He could read between the lines. Something was off, but he wasn't quite sure what it exactly was without outright asking.

"Shigure-san said that Hatori found evidence that she was raped at the main house and that was the reason for her retreat. The worst part is that..."Kazuma's voice wavered at the last words and then faltered altogether, making Haru's hands claw at the arms of the chair he was sitting in.

"She's expecting a child." Kazuma finished, making Haru's fingers splinter the wood.

_(End Flashback)_

Haru's lips tightened at the memory and he had to force himself to keep on sweeping the walk. There was nothing to be done at that point except keep himself busy as he waited for Kazuma to wrap up the business end of his life with Kunimitsu and Kyo's help before he went to see Kyoko. He knew that Kazuma hadn't taken him to Shigure's sooner because he needed to take care of the dojo first. It was something that simply couldn't be left any longer. Kunimitsu and Kyo had done their best, but there were certain things that only he could take care of.

He didn't like it, but he wasn't going to be a spoiled brat. He was realistic enough to know that even though the main house sent him plenty of money for their upkeep, Kazuma's main source of income was his dojo. So he swept with harsh strokes, losing himself in the action until the broom was yanked out of his hands.

"It's time to go. Kyo said he'd take care of the rest." Kazuma told him quietly as the older man handed him his coat.

Haru only nodded and put on his coat and took Kazuma's arms. He used to hate having to do that, but he had forced himself to get used to it. He was blind now and nothing was going to change that fact. The fucken end.

Once they had finally arranged themselves properly, they headed out without a word between them, both of them lost in their own fears and thoughts as they walked.

(Line Break)

Shigure watched from the doorway, a sad, soft smile on his lips as Tohru combed out Kyoko's hair. It was nowhere near its former glory yet, but had grown out to that perfect mid-length that allowed for it to be styled rather than just brushed and pushed back.

Tohru chatted as she fixed the delicate jewelled hair pins into Kyoko's hair. They were clear rhinestones and shone like lights against the now auburn hair. Shigure wasn't sure if he liked the pins or not. They had been a gift from a still stubbornly hopeful Yuki that had made even Hatori's eyebrow rise in surprise when he had been told about the presentation of them afterwards.

"There! They look very good in your hair, Kyoko-chan..." The girl stopped her prattle and covered her mouth with her hand, her expression perplexed and sad at the same time. It was only for a moment, but it was enough for Shigure to catch that it had something to do with her recently departed mother. Belatedly, he understood that Kyoko had been her mother's name.

Kyoko noticed the change in the atmosphere as well and turned her head to look at Tohru, who although was smiling again, wasn't fully herself just yet.

Kyoko turned around and looked at Tohru questioningly, her expression lost and worried at the same time, making Shigure wince. He had never seen Kyoko look like that in all the time he had known her and he hated it.

"_Completely stripped bare." _He thought as he watched Tohru clumsily assure her that nothing was wrong. If that had been Akito's aim, she had achieved it.

"Oh! I didn't mean to make you upset! It's just that...it reminded me of my mum. I used to comb her hair when it was long sometimes." Tohru explained to the other girl as she tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. Kyoko raised an eyebrow and Tohru nodded, her radiant expression back again.

"There! You look perfectly wonderful!" Tohru announced as she finished fussing with the hem of the patterned yukata that Kyoko had chosen to wear that morning.

"Kyoko-chan! You look so pretty! Tohru-kun outdid herself this time!" Shigure gushed as he helped Kyoko to her feet, since her balance was affected by the thickening bump in her middle. She was walking by herself now, and was barely requiring help, but sometimes her pregnancy did make it difficult for her to get up from a sitting position.

"Let's go to the living room and wait for Kazuma-san and Hatsuharu-kun. They should be here soon." Shigure said as he led Kyoko out to the main room, all the while careful to not touch her anymore than necessary. She had developed an adverse reaction to having men touch her for too long a time ever since she had become more aware of the world around her and was re-learning to deal with people again. Hatori had said it was normal for victims of assault to act that way, since the possibility of being attacked was always present when it came to the attackers' gender. The reaction also because even more pronounced when there had been _prior_ incidents of sexual abuse and or assaults.

_(Flashback)_

"I had my suspicions before. When I first examined her after Kazuma took her in." Hatori told Shigure when the conversation had inevitably come up, since Kyoko had practically thrown a fit at having Shigure carry her when she had been more lucid. After Hatori had to resort to sedating her to keep her from either clawing the dog's eyes out or castrating him with a well-placed kick, the two older zodiac members had sat down with a bottle of sake and a good supply of cigarettes as they discussed Kyoko's current condition and her behaviour.

Shigure had frowned and nearly choked hard on the smoke of his cigarette as he received those news.

"Who?" was all he could ask as he tried to digest the idea as quickly as possible to make sense of it. He knew that the family was dark and had quite a bit of twisted secrets that were swept under the carpet as was the case in many old families. But this was one thing that had him deeply contemplating the darkness of the Sohma name and family in a way that he had ever conceived before.

"Her father, I would assume. Abusers do it for the power it gives them over the victim. Humiliation and complete control as well as instilling fear are the main goals of sexual abuse. Her father had every reason to do it, despite making the rest of the world think otherwise." Hatori explained as he tapped the end of his cigarette against the porcelain ashtray sitting at the edge of Shigure's writing desk.

"You don't know how close I am to being physically sick right about now." Shigure whispered as he ground out his own smoke. " I feel like I should apologize to her, for touching her. With a history like that and now this piled on top of it, no wonder why she doesn't want to be anywhere near men at all."

"I know what you mean. She was pretty much left to her own devices, after Kazuma-san took her in. I didn't want to cast any aspersions on her father, or sound like I was bad-mouthing him when I had only scant proof. After all, it wasn't as if she had had a normal upbringing in that madhouse. Any number of factors could have attributed to her behaviour." He shook his head.

"Or maybe it's something I tell myself to ease my guilt."

Neither man spoke for a long time, each of them chain-smoking in silence, knowing full well that there was nothing to be done. They were all pawns, one way or another and innocents would get hurt because of that. But it still didn't completely absolve them from the past.

_(End of Flashback)_

Shigure shook his head to clear it of the memories and watched as Kyoko sat down carefully at the table. He took his place on the other end of the table and watched as Tohru got tea together before the expected visitors came. It was quiet, but it was a comfortable quiet that no one was inclined to break. They remained like so for what felt like hours, but was in fact not even twenty minutes when it was broken by the sound of the front door being slid open and voices filling the house. Voice that Shigure knew belonged to Yuki and Haru and which were raised in a still indistinct argument.

Kyoko looked at Shigure as if to make sure that he was aware of the intrusion. Hatori had been the only frequent visitor in the last couple of weeks and he knew better than to be noisy about entering the house. Frowning at the thoughtlessness of both boys, Shigure smiled what he hoped was a reassuring smile at Kyoko and went to investigate the source of the noise.

He was not surprised to find Kazuma in the middle trying to keep Yuki and Haru from grabbing at each other. Their anger had gone from cool and sarcastic to feral and animalistic. If Kazuma hadn't been there, Shigure was positive that they would have been tearing each other apart by then.

"Normally, I would actually encourage any petty squabbles, since it would do much to amuse me. But Kyoko's in there, and both of you yelling at each other isn't helping the current situation. Unless you want me to throw you out, you'd best behave." Shigure said in a cold and serious voice that belied the sunny expression on his face as he spoke.

Haru and Yuki face him, both wearing an identically sullen expression, but both of them nodded and backed away.

"Where is she, Shigure-san?" Kazuma asked, stepping into the foyer of the house since he had already divested himself of his sandals.

"She's in the living room, waiting, Kazuma-san. This way." Shigure said as he motioned the man to follow him. Haru and Yuki muttered unhappily as they worked at their shoes, but remained quiet. They knew Shigure long enough to realize if he had put the joker's mask away, it would be utterly foolish to cross him and expect any consequences to come of it.

"Ah! Kyoko-chan! Look who's come to visit!" Shigure announced Kazuma to the blank-faced girl still sitting at the table. Kazuma was nervous at first, since he didn't know what to expect. He knew that Kyoko was changed by her ordeal, but he didn't know how she would react to seeing him. Would she shrink away from him? Or would she simply stare at him and not recognize him?

Swallowing his fears, he sat down at the table, leaving a good amount of space between them and was about to begin to speak when a rare smile lit up Kyoko's face and she closed the distance between them by throwing herself into Kazuma's arms.

"Shi-Shi-Shisou!" Kyoko whispered as she clung to Kazuma's arms. Although he wished he could have held her in a true embrace, he knew that he would have to settle for that much contact, unless he wanted her to change into a cat. Right now wasn't the time for inopportune transformations.

"Kyo-chan?" Kyoko head perked up when she heard her pet-name. Extricating herself from Kazuma with reluctance, she stood up and made her way carefully to Haru, who was standing in the door way waiting for her, a heart-breakingly hopeful expression on his face as he did.

They didn't speak. They didn't touch. Kyoko only stared up at him as he ran his hands over her face, hair and body before he finally grabbed her and engulfed her in a crushing embrace.

"Kyoko. Kyoko. Kyoko." Haru whispered as he held her and rocked back and forth with her as if he was afraid that she would be torn from him again.

"Haru." Kyoko murmured as she melted into the embrace, her eyes closed and completely missing the frosty expression of the only person in the house not glad to see the reunion.

_Shigure had been right_, Yuki thought bitterly as he stalked upstairs. _She was never mine._

Why?

Notes: Heavy chapter, I admit. I wanted to tie in Kyoko's past and the reason why she would end up in quite a deep shock over this situation. This is also the reason why she didn't mature as quickly as Rin did and why she would push Kazuma away and why she opened up to Haru, since he is younger and in her mind, less likely to abuse her and or take advantage of her. Also, some victims develop a love/hate relationship with their caretakers, especially if they are the gender of the people that hurt them. And yes, Yuki is still not going to get the girl...well...not Kyoko at least. Anyways, that's it for now, thanks for reading again. Edited to correct a mistake kindly pointed out By Noelle. Thanks!


	10. I'm Frightened but I'm Coming

Chapter 9-I'm Frightened, But I'm Coming

"Where is Yuki-kun?" Tohru asked when she had come back from the kitchen with a tray full of tea cups and a tea pot. Shigure frowned as he and Kazuma exchanged a look. They hadn't really been paying attention to the other teenager, since they were all watching Haru and Kyoko carefully.

"I think he went up to his room, Tohru-kun. I will go check on him. Excuse me."

The dog was making for the stairs when the doorbell rang. Frowning to himself, he went to answer it and came back with an expressionless Hatori. Both of them felt that they should leave Yuki alone for a bit and excused themselves to go outside so that Hatori could get caught up with the recent developments that had occurred.

Kazuma had agreed to that and decided to stay and talk to Tohru, since Haru and Kyoko were lost in a world of their own at the far side of the room, neither of them speaking at all, just simply communicating by touch since they had been denied simple pleasure for so long.

"You are the one that found my daughter?" Kazuma asked Tohru once she had finished setting the tea on the table and had sat down across the way from him. She blushed and nodded.

"I..I was camping on the edge of Shigure-san's land and she came into my tent. Then Shigure-san and Yuki-kun came by, found her and offered me a place to live." Tohru explained to the older man, who nodded as he took a cup of the fragrant green tea and began sipping slowly.

"So you are aware about the secret, Tohru-san?" He asked her thoughtfully. Tohru nodded.

"Kyoko-chan transformed in front of me and Shigure-san and Yuki-kun have a few times when I wasn't paying attention and bumped into them." Tohru admitted a bit shamefacedly. Kazuma only nodded as he took another sip of his tea. He was going to have a long talk with Shigure soon. It was one thing to have the different branches involved in the Machiavellian double-dealing that being in the inner circle required; it was a different thing to have an innocent child caught right in the middle of their family's jaded and despairing aristocratic heritage.

In the meantime, he pushed those thoughts away and focused his attention on the young girl in front of him, since he knew from past experience that Haru and Kyoko were lost to anyone else except themselves.

"So...Tohru-san...you go to the same school as Yuki-kun?"

(Line Break)

"I wish we could go to the roof." Kyoko murmured as she snuggled in deeper into the protective cocoon that Haru's arms had made around her. She hated having anyone's arms around her recently, especially if she could catch the musky scent of male heat when they were holding her. With Haru, she also sensed that about him, but it was a comforting scent rather than a threatening one, since she could recall with strong clarity all those nights that they had spent exploring each other's bodies. She had revelled in the scent before and was now realizing that was something she had been missing for far too long, hence the desire to be enveloped in it as much as possible.

Haru only snorted in quiet laughter at her comment and then nuzzled into the auburn nest of her hair. God, how he had missed burying his face into that tangled mess and breathing in the scent of wildflowers and herbs that Kyoko always seemed to carry with her.

"Soon. I promise." Haru murmured, his hands slipping down to the roundness that the yukata couldn't hide. He had noticed before hand, when he had practically crushed her against him. But it didn't really hit him that there was another human being inside until they had sat down and he had felt the child jostle and move around under his hands.

They hadn't gotten around to discussing the child. It simply wasn't the time for it and Haru wasn't sure when that time was going to come. He knew that they would have to talk about it shortly, since the matter of its future had to determined. Haru was sure that Akito would have a say in the future of the child and he was going to be damned if the fate of his child was going to be decided by that woman.

"_But what about if it isn't yours?"_ a small voice asked sardonically. _"Can you raise someone else's child? A child that was created in revenge and violence?" _He frowned at that and wished he could see Kyoko's face and know _exactly_ how she was. Words and touch could only communicate so much between them. He was worried that she was more fragile than she seemed. And as far as he knew, she hadn't really spoken to anyone about the actual act of violence.

Hell, if Shigure's soft exclamation of surprise was anything to go by, it looked like Kyoko hadn't really spoken at all since she had arrived at his house. Filing that away for future knowledge, he let his hands rest on her belly until she shifted around under his touch.

"What's wrong?" he murmured as she fidgeted for several minutes before finally relaxing into him.

"My back hurts sometimes, since the baby's getting bigger." she explained in that low voice that put him on edge. He wasn't used to her being so quiet, so tentative. He wanted her to be loud and abrasive and forceful. He wanted her to grab him and kiss him so hard that his breath would be taken away. He wanted her nails to score his back and her sharp teeth to dig into his shoulder. He wanted all of that...

But he didn't know if he would ever be able to get it ever again.

"I missed you." he murmured to her instead and held her closer, lightly placing a kiss on her neck.

"Me too." she murmured, but he still noticed when she pulled away slightly at his caress.

(Line Break)

"He didn't take this very well, did he?" Hatori asked Shigure as they stood outside on the balcony having a cigarette before going back into the house again. Shigure sighed and shook his head and looked at his cousin, who had arrived just as Yuki had run off to his bedroom after watching Haru and Kyoko.

"I tried to warn him. What he wanted was impossible. But he didn't want to see it. I don't blame him for wanting to hold onto that dream for as long as he could." The dog said as he exhaled the blue smoke that dissipated into the night.

"So why did you go ahead and break it for him? You completely went against Akito's wishes calling Kazuma-dono and Haa-kun back so soon." Hatori reminded him, his eyes glowing dull green as he spoke. Shigure smiled darkly and stubbed out the cigarette.

"Would you rather have a body or a broken illusion to deal with?" Shigure asked coldly as he lit up another cigarette, the light of the flame making his face and eyes look hollow and sinister before it was cut off.

Hatori frowned at his cousin and wondered where did this all fit into his schemes. After all, he was pretty much prodding and pulling and searching for ways to make that dream of his come true. Why would he care about the triangle that had developed between their younger cousins?

"Why did you care? Is this part of your grand plan?" Hatori asked neutrally. Shigure laughed softly at the comment, ignoring anything that could have been meant by it.

"I don't know. It's too altruistic, isn't it? Having a hand in reuniting the lovers before anyone was there to split them up." Shigure commented, his voice going slightly sarcastic as he spoke.

"Some might say that…but I grew up with you. I know you better than that."

"That's true. You do know me better than most." Shigure replied quietly.

"I called Haa-kun and Kazuma back because Yuki was fucking everything up. If he had continued to push Kyoko, she would have broken permanently. She was seeing him as a threat rather than a romantic interest. That coupled with the fact that she's still coping with what happened to her, would have made it impossible for her to come as far as she has."

Hatori's mouth thinned itself into a straight line at the comment. Shigure looked at his cousin and laughed softly at the expression on the dragon's face.

"You know that's true. Tohru has healed her enough for Haa-kun to easily do the rest, which he will. He was undoing her work and also, he wasn't letting himself be healed. He needs that if he's going to be strong enough to finally grow up and away from Akito's shadow."

"Is that how you see him? A sick child in need of healing?" Hatori asked softly. Shigure took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled noisily, not speaking for what felt like an extremely long time.

"What else is he? He's been the worst off, really. Being the so called favoured one for so long…He's not had the chance to either be a child or normal. Perhaps in time she'll teach him that…if he lets her."

Hatori's silence was protracted as he digested that bit of knowledge.

"You think she can do it?" he finally asked once he had finally smoked the last of the cigarette down. Shigure shrugged.

"I think she will. She got Kyoko this far…She could do the same to Yuki."

Hatori nodded.

"Let's go back inside." Was all he said, filing away the conversation for future contemplation.

(Line Break)

Yuki sat alone in his dark room, the bitterness of his failure still strong within him. He had been so sure that he could have her, the possibility of failure hadn't ever been dwelled on.

"And he tried to warn me too, that is the worst thought. That he knew before I did." Yuki muttered as he brought his knees up to his chest and rested his head on them. He had prided himself on never being taken advantage of by either his heart of the people around him and now it had all come to this…

He sighed and closed his eyes, hoping that when he opened them again, that things would be like he wished them to be. Kyoko smiling and speaking to him, looking at him with adoration, her body and mind still whole and ready for him. But that didn't come to be. The only thing that happened was that the door slid open and to let Shigure in. He only looked up at the faint sound of the noise, but he quickly closed his eyes again when he saw who it was.

Shigure didn't say anything to Yuki as he slipped in, shutting the door carefully. In fact, the dog didn't speak until he had sat down on the floor beside Yuki's bed. The silence lingered between them for what felt like years, neither one willing to be the first to break it. So they sat behind their shields of quiet until Yuki finally had had enough and spoke.

"Why are you here?" He asked in a voice that was a harsh whisper that sounded hostile even to his own ears. Shigure's first response was to snort sarcastically.

"Believe it or not, I was worried." He replied, not willing to give Yuki the argument he knew the younger man was spoiling for.

"Worried about my well-being or worried about living with such a fool?"

"We all have been fools at one point or another. That's how we learn." Shigure replied softly. It was Yuki's turn to snort at the comment.

"I'm annoyed that I didn't listen. You were right, as always. She belongs with him." Yuki said bitterly. Shigure sighed at that.

"Maybe if the time had been different, she would have been yours. But you can't wash away her past or what he means to her. That was what I was hoping you'd understand. She's not the same little girl you saw at the banquet all those years ago, Yuki. She's not coming back. Akito killed that chance. Learn to live past it."

They fell into silence again, but this time, it was an understanding silence that wasn't thick with tension or hostile. It was the silence that came after the tempest has finally subsided.

(Line Break)

He stepped into the dimly lit cubicle and sat down. He closed the door and waited for the panel to be pulled back. It made a dry, dusty sound as it moved, but he barely noticed it. His gaze was riveted on the heavy ebony crucifix in his hands. He had practically worn the beads smooth with all the handling he had given it the past few years, making the beads shiny from the handling and the oils from his hands. He stared at them and moved them easily through his fingers as he waited for the priest to continue the traditional opening prayer of confession.

"Father, it has been seven years since my last confession." He told the priest, who was sitting still as he waited to hear the confession and offer absolution.

"In that time, I have simply stood by, watching lives get destroyed because I was afraid."

"Afraid of what, my son?" the priest asked, his voice sure and strong, making wonder whether the priest was his age or possibly even younger.

"Afraid of what would come down on my head if I dared interfere." He stopped and took a jagged breath to steady his nerves before continuing."But now...this is much worse than I could have ever imagined happening. Much worse."

"What is?" the priest asked, his voice low as he prodded carefully.

"I hurt a little girl horribly, knowing full well what I was doing to her. But my cowardice was larger than her fear, so I continued, rather than letting her alone."

"How did you hurt this girl?"

"I raped her, father."

(Line Break)

Haru stood in the doorway of the room, unsure whether he wanted her to come in. She wasn't speaking to him since she had said she was going to bed. He had nodded and had released her, but she had only sat there, obviously waiting for something.

Cursing himself, he had stood up and helped her to her feet. She had more or less guided him to the room, but hadn't invited him in. So he stood in the door way, hearing the rustle of her clothes as she got ready for bed, or at least that was what he assumed she was doing. After a few minutes of feeling very self conscious and awkward, he was about to tell her he was leaving when she called out in such a soft voice that he nearly would have missed it if his ears hadn't become so sensitive since losing his sight.

"Come." One word, almost breathed out, but it was enough. He closed the door softly and went to the bed, crawling in under the covers that she was holding in invitation.

They lay there for several moments, Haru stiffly and Kyoko on her side facing him, he could feel her soft, steady breath on the left side of his face as they lay there without saying a word.

"I missed this." She whispered as she reached out and wrapped her arm loosely around his chest.

"It doesn't scare you, being in bed with a man?" The minute that he had blurted that out, he felt like kicking his own arse.

"_Way to be tactful and considerate, Haru."_ He chastizised himself silently. How could he say something like that to the woman that he loved beyond anything and anyone? It would serve him right if he lost her to Yuki! He would probably be able to handle a situation like this..hadn't he been doing that already while he was away licking his wounds?

His thoughts of self-disgust were abruptly stopped by her hand moving up from his chest to cradle his face before it was tilted in her direction.

"Why should I be when it's with you? I've always felt safe with you."

That was all he needed to hear to make him stop his self-abuse and to stay.

Notes: Apologies for the sheer length of time between updates. I have been swamped with end-term work and I am currently going to be teaching at a winter camp (probably won't have either net access or time to really write) so it shall be a while again. This chapter...I didn't want Kyoko to bounce back and be all better, that's why she's still very clingy, very low-key and quiet. She is more complete with Haru, that is why she's more responsive even with the little time they are together.

I wanted for Haru to be sad and despairing, since he has been there through everything. He's not really the saviour, since he has his own issues to deal with and there's the whole incident that neither has addressed...which will come soon.

As for the Mystery man...stay tuned.

Thank you once again for reading.


	11. Show Me Where the Stars Sleep

Chapter 10- Show me were the stars sleep

Yuki found Shigure standing outside enjoying a cigarette in the early morning. He wasn't fond of getting up early, but he wanted to make a request of his older cousin and he didn't want anyone knowing about it.

"Shigure." the dog from the zodiac turned his head and had to blink twice when he saw his younger cousin awake and coherent all before eight in the morning.

"To what do I owe the honor of your presence?" Shigure asked neutrally as his mind worked to figure out what request Yuki had for him.

"I want her gone." Shigure flicked the cigarette into the ashtray on the veranda before moving closer to Yuki, who was watching him with unflinching grey eyes.

"Akito wants her here." he replied levelly. Yuki shook his head.

"Then I go somewhere else. Don't ask me to keep on living in the same place as her. Not even you can be that cruel." Yuki replied harshly before quickly spinning on his heel and walking inside with the same cool princely demeanor only the besotted Kaibara girls saw.

Shigure's mouth tightened into a thin line. No. He wasn't that cruel, but Akito was and the only way he knew that Yuki would get his boon was if they could count on Akito's hatred of the cat outweighing her desire to torment the rat.

He shook his head and went inside. He would have to stir the pot soon. But for now, he needed to formulate a plan. And eat breakfast, of course.

(Line Break)

Akito frowned at the listless man lying beside her. Kureno had acted as if he were sleep-walking for the last seven months. Oh, it was true that he did all his duties with the same flawless regard as before, but for all intents and purposes, the man was emotionally dead. She didn't like that. And she didn't know how to fix the problem. Especially not when he would disappear for hours on end, carrying prayer beads and chanting sutras under his breath when he thought no one was listening.

She sighed and ran her long nailed fingers through his hair, which was now becoming long and untrimmed and almost reached to his shoulders. What had happened to him? Why was he dying before her eyes?

Was this also connected to the weakening of all the ties between herself and the other zodiacs? He had already severed the tie, but it hadn't affected how they were with each other. At least not until recently. She frowned at the thought. She was going to have to work harder then, to maintain the links. Or else...

She closed her eyes and pulled him closer to her body. If she had been a kinder mistress, she would have known how to deal with him. But she was too broken to even deal with herself, much less him. That she would admit to herself. But only to herself.

Kureno only frowned in his sleep and sighed at the sudden tightening of her arms. But he didn't wake. He slept on, oblivious to the conflict in his goddess.

(Line Break)

Rin knelt in front of Akito, who was watching her with lazy contempt from the alcove in her darkened rooms. She could smell the fear coming off the horse like expensive perfume and that made her smile. Only just. She was pleased with herself that she had kept the horse guessing what was going to happen to her all those months. But there was no longer time to delay. She had to push the last chess piece into play to make the game complete. She had another game to set the chess board for.

"Do you know why I called you here for, Isuzu?" Akito whispered as she toyed with one of the silken sashes that held her robe shut. Rin shook her head, not daring to say anything lest Akito lash out at her.

"I feel I have neglected placing you somewhere after all that happened last New Year's banquet. After all, I did it for Yuki. I feel it is only fair that you also get the same privilege."

Rin blinked and forced herself to remain still despite the fact that her heart was beating as rapidly as if she had run a race. Was Akito thinking of sending her back home with her parents? Or worse, forcing her to remain here by her side until she became a virtual copy of Kureno? Shivering with deep fear, Rina waited for her sentence to be delivered by Akito, who did so in the manner of one bestowing a boon to an unworthy candidate.

"You will no longer have a home in the inner walls of the Sohma compound. You will live with that ungrateful rat and that stupid girl in Shigure's house." Akito announced, making Rin let out a soft breath of relief that she hadn't been aware that she had been holding.

Akito smiled, knowing that she had thrown the horse a switch that she hadn't foreseen and was immensely pleased by how she turned her head like that. It would, of course, make the next piece of news easier to deliver.

"And when you arrive, I want you to deliver a message from me to the cat. It's been too long since she last came here. I want to see her."

(Line Break)

After that audience, Rin was torn between leaving as quickly as she could possibly manage and delaying it as much as possible without being obvious about it. Despite the humiliation at not being able to best the ox of the zodiac and the bitter knowledge that Yuki was still obsessed with the cat; she couldn't bring herself to go and destroy the tenuous peace that he now had with the gang of misfits collected at Shigure's house. She also had known, from whispered conversations with a livid Kagura that Kyoko had just barely pulled through the torture and rape that she had been subjected to by Akito's implicit request. Despite being selfish and angry at Kyoko, had she been in that situation, she wouldn't have wanted for someone to thoughtlessly destroy what bit of peace she had achieved after such a horrific event in her life. It was mostly pity over that pathetic cat and her new burden that stayed her hand. She knew that if she was pregnant, she would have already aborted it. Not because she was a heartless bitch, but just simple knowledge that she wouldn't be able to take care of the child properly, not just because of her youth; but also due to simply being a Sohma was hell enough. She didn't want to drag an innocent soul into that House of Usher that they were building up all so well. No. She wasn't that cruel. Or that stupid.

Shutting her thoughts of with a click, she went to her room and laid down on the bed. She would have plenty of time to pack. She was going to make sure of it.

(Line Break)

Haru woke up to the smells of breakfast being made. He was hungry, but he didn't want to leave the warm bed he shared with his Kyo-chan. He didn't want to wake her just yet. She needed more rest than she had been getting due to her getting closer to giving birth. It was about a month and a half away, but the child and the struggle to cement her sanity and heal her mind from the abuse it suffered was taking its toll. He was glad that he couldn't see her, since he had known from the reactions of Shishou and Hatori that she wasn't looking as well as she should. Even her scent was underlaid by something that he couldn't put his finger on, but that he knew was not right.

So he tried to push her to rest as much as he could. He didn't mind staying with her, since in the past three months since he had come back she had healed so well and so quickly that even Hatori was impressed. She still wasn't the same firebrand as before, but she was getting there. He could hear the passion as a background current in her still quiet voice and in the way her hands would claw at his back. She didn't leave furrows just yet, but the marks were still itchy and painful. He tried to not fidget too much when they were with the others, but from the pointed double entendres followed by pained cries of Shigure, he knew that the others were simply ignoring it out of politeness. No one wanted to comment on how Kyoko was handling having someone touch her intimately.

He had to wonder about that himself, since he had done his homework on rape victims and the aftermath. Most of them either went two paths: They either renounced sex entirely, or they slept with anyone that was willing to sleep with them. It was almost as if they were trying to control the occurrence of another rape happening. But they both stemmed from the same fear of helplessness that had overwhelmed them when they had been attacked.

Judging from the way that she had shrank from the others, Haru was sure that she wasn't going to want to have sex anytime soon. Not only was the trauma like a shadow between them, her pregnancy also posed a barrier. He had resigned himself to taking matters in his own hands, so to speak and had been both pleasantly surprised and horrified when she had shyly initiated the first time of what would be a regular routine of sex, establishing the same pattern that they had followed before everything had collapsed in their world.

But it was far from being the wild and unrestrained passion that they had shared. It had become more gentle than he had ever dreamed possible with someone like Kyoko, who had never really been able to display that she was capable of being less than abrasive. He wasn't sure if he liked that more. She was open and vulnerable now. No shields were up, the walls still hadn't been rebuilt.

Haru had to muse whether it was better to see her guarded and fiery, or exposed and vulnerable. He hadn't been expecting a marriage of the two. There couldn't be one. At least not in the foreseeable future. She had been passive and submissive, despite being the one that reached out to him. She would lay herself out to him and he would enjoy caressing her skin under his fingertips, feel the blood rush and pool into his groin with every moan, breath, sigh or pant that escaped her lips. He wept, when he was finally alone, that he couldn't see how she looked in those moments.

It was true that he recalled how she looked before, with her eyes blazing a bright orange, her skin flushed to a darker shade of tan as he fucked her, made love to her, screwed her. All the unromantic terms that she had called the act before.

He had to wonder at what she looked like now. Would her eyes glimmer under thick lashes? Would her skin just take a rosy hue? Or would it reach that reddish-tawny shade as it had before? He stopped asking himself the questions. There was no point. No one could grant him that sight.

"Morning." Kyoko's murmured greeting and kiss on the cheek broke him out of his morbid thoughts and made him focus on her.

"Morning love. Do you want to get some breakfast?" he asked as he sat up and sat with his back against the headboard of their bed.

"Not really. But I'd better eat for the baby's sake." Kyoko replied sarcastically, making him muffle a snort of laughter at that.

"Still nauseous?" he asked as he got out of bed and helped her out as well. At seven and a half months she wasn't exactly graceful and he would much rather help her out than risk getting herself hurt by being clumsy. Despite any misgivings that he may have had about the child, he was not going to ever let her get hurt.

"Just slightly. Tohru's a good cook, but the baby doesn't seem to think so." He smiled at kissed her forehead once she was steady on her feet.

"I'm glad that it's only one month and change before the baby's born. I can't wait." she said as she moved away from him and began looking for his and her clothes.

"Maybe then we can go back to Shisou's house." the wistfulness in her voice made Haru flinch. Although she was getting along well with the occupants of the house, she missed the place that had been her first true home. "And Yuki can come back to his own home."

Haru's mouth tightened at that softly spoken comment. Without a second thought, he went over to Kyoko and hugged her, neither of them caring that they were half-dressed and possibly very late for breakfast. She hadn't taken Yuki's moving out very well and had felt extremely guilty over the whole situation and had almost slipped back into her depression. If it hadn't been for Shigure carefully making excuses and lies to sound so truthful, she probably would have gone that far. Hatori hadn't approved of his doing that, but had agreed it was necessary. So he had let it go.

"It wasn't your fault. It was Yuki's choice. His decision to make. No matter what you would have said in the end, it wouldn't have changed his decision. It was his choice." He murmured in her hair as he stroked her back. She was silent for a long time and Haru wondered if she had accepted the explanation when she exhaled noisily and moved away so that both of them could continue getting dressed.

They went downstairs to eat the breakfast that Tohru had surely left for them. Once they had entered the dining area, they knew something was off-kilter in the house. Haru could smell a different scent in the air. A sweet, heavy and expensive perfume that neither Tohru or Kyoko would be caught dead wearing. He knew of two women that wore that scent. One was his mother, the other was...

"What are you doing here, Isuzu?" Kyoko hissed sharply once he had realized who it was that had just arrived in Shigure's house.

To her credit, the girl had the grace to remain silent for a few moments before she spoke.

"Akito had ordered me to live here. She has banished me from the main house."

The room was silent after she had uttered those words, except for Shigure, who was muttering angrily about his home not being a pound for strays. Hatori quickly quieted him and the silence grew to a lengthy and uncomfortable one until Isuzu took a deep breath to speak again.

"She also told me to pass along the message that Kyoko is to come to the main house. Akito wants to see her and she won't take no for an answer. She said she had already waited long enough and that as soon as I arrived here, she was to get ready to visit."

Haru heard Kyoko's strangled gasp and quickly pulled her to his side. She was silent, but she was hiding her face into her shoulder. He could only hold her tightly as Hatori and Shigure questioned Isuzu about everything that Akito had demanded of her.

"I don't want to go there. I don't want to face her." Kyoko had hissed, her voice muffled by his shoulder, but still clear enough for him to understand.

He wanted to tell her she didn't have to and that she would protect her, but his mouth refused to move. He couldn't promise her that. Not when he knew that he couldn't keep that promise. She had already been snatched from him and he knew fully well that he had no power to prevent anything from happening.

Holding this thought in his mind, he cursed himself silently and kept on rubbing his love's back in an effort to calm her down. He was going to have to find a way to help her. And soon.

But how?

(Line Break)

Kyoko sat with Hatori, Shigure and Haru in the study not long after Rin had arrived. They had left the horse with Tohru, who was all too happy to take care of the new guest while they went into the study to come up with a plan. They had all been expecting that Akito would request her presence, but now that the summons had come, they didn't know what the best way to proceed was.

"I will try and distract her from her request, Kyo-chan." Shigure had said after the silence between them had grown uncomfortably long.

"And what if it doesn't work?" Haru asked, his voice rough and thick, showing how close he was to going black over the distressing news.

"It buys us time." Hatori replied, his voice flat and emotionless as he spoke. Kyoko's head rose sharply at that and Haru only grinned at the words.

"You can hide out in Nagasaki or even Seoul if you don't feel safe there." Hatori continued smoothly while Shigure's face betrayed nothing of his thoughts.

"How will they manage it? Kureno..." Shigure protested, only to be cut off by his unaffected cousin.

"Kureno's not been handling the accounts and all the other household duties recently. They are handled by another Sohma who is still learning the intricacies of dealing with the inner circle. It would be at the least, a month before they would even think of tracking any expenses or even plot ways to look for you. By the time she would find you, it would be too late. If Akito's obsessions aren't in front of her, she will lose interest. That's what we're counting on." Hatori explained coolly.

Kyoko's mouth jerked at that, but she didn't say a word. Instead, she ran her hands over her distended belly that carried her child. Shigure watched the gesture, his mouth tightening into a sharp line as he did so. At that moment he knew he would have to use all of his tricks to buy time for her and Haru. Or possibly even their freedom. They needed to have a place to raise that child so that it wouldn't be tainted by the shadows and griefs of the Sohma name. It was too late for himself and Hatori, Kureno and Ayame, but at least he could hand that gift over to Kyoko's unborn child.

He wouldn't fail at this sleight of hand. He would make sure of it.

Notes: I do apologize for the length between chapters. I was not in Seoul for two weeks and when I came back, I was extremely ill and have now fully recovered from that. Suffice to say that this chapter is getting close to tying up loose ends between all of the characters that hadn't been seen in awhile.

Also, Kyoko's finally had time to heal more and Haru has gotten a chance to express himself after being pretty quiet in the last few chapters. Kyoko's recovery is still not fully complete, despite Haru's presence and his patience. It is **seemingly** quick because of her youth, but she will have more trauma to deal with later that will show exactly how much she has been healed.

Thank you to all that are still reading and I promise to update. Honest. If work doesn't get me first.


	12. Oceans

Chapter 11- Oceans

He sat in the pew and stared at the large statue of the crucifixion that was suspended over the altar, his eyes unblinking as he took in the loving detail that had gone into portraying the hideous pain that the man had suffered. He shuddered at the realization and lowered his head, his long hair covering his face and effectively hiding him from the rest of the world. He knew he had been hiding, these long months, taking his time going to the church and back.

He knew that he deserved her raging at him. After all, he hadn't been doing his work as he was supposed to for months, leaving it neglected and into the hands of others that although were doing as good a job as he was, still let certain things slip through the cracks.

Certain things like the flight and subsequent disappearance of Kyoko and Hatsuharu Sohma.

He allowed a small smile to curl the corners of his mouth as he recalled how enraged she had been that they had managed to do what no one in her life had managed at that point: to get away and actually grasp at an elusive bit of happiness. It wasn't that he enjoyed seeing her thwarted or in pain. Not at all. After all, that had been the reason why he had given in and stayed with her in the first place, when she had been nothing more than a hysterical girl. But he couldn't keep making himself blind to her faults, her selfishness and her misplaced callousness.

No. She needed to see that she was hurting people with her destructive meddling of their lives. She needed to realize that sooner or later, they would snap the reins that held them hemmed in. Three had already snapped their leashes. They all were waiting with barely hidden anxiousness to see who would be next. If the signs were as right as he was reading them, they wouldn't have to wait that long.

He allowed the smile to grow even further under the curtain of hair and clutched at his beads once again, making himself notice the biting hardness of the ebony rosary as he went through the novena for what was probably the seventeenth time in that night. So lost was he in his prayers that he failed to notice the second figure sliding into the pew until a heavy hand landed on his shoulder, making him jump and nearly fall off the polished wood of the pew.

"Don't you go anywhere else?" the soft voice whispered in his ear once he had regained his seating and straightened out his rumpled clothes.

"Occasionally." he muttered back as his hands played with the rosary, making the beads click softly as he slid them through the soft pads of his fingertips.

A snort and then the shifting and moving of a body as the other man tried to find a more comfortable post on the unyielding wood underneath him.

"I don't understand why you come here. It's not like you did anything to the girl." the other man murmured as he finally settled for leaning forwards and resting his chin on his arms.

"It's true. But I was the one that hired you and the one that watched her as she begged me to help. I didn't do anything, but I am still guilty by association. You don't feel that guilt. So I suppose it is only fair that I do."

"You'll only drive yourself mad, Kureno." the other man replied as he moved to slump onto the bench.

Kureno shrugged. "Fair punishment then. The girl went mad. It would serve me right. Now if you don't have anything else to say, I suggest that you take your last payment from the back of the charity box and leave. And if you breathe any of this to anyone ever, it will be the last mistake you ever make."

A harsh laugh met his ears as the other man hung over the pew Kureno sat at.

"What if I don't do any of the above?"

He found out soon enough when in a blur of movement Kureno was behind him, the crucifix wrapped around his neck tautly, making every breath he took a struggle.

"Do you really want to find out?"

(Line Break)

Hatori stood by the open patio door, the cigarette in his hand seemingly forgotten. He was lost in thought as he stared out at the garden that was now in full bloom, the foliage clearly benefitting from the October humidity. A letter sat on his desk and so far, he hadn't glanced at it since he had read it the first time. He didn't want to relive the sickening feeling that had settled in the pit of his stomach when he had.

"You couldn't have stopped her." Tohru's voice pulled him out of his morbid trance, but he didn't make a move to give an indication that his thoughts had changed.

"I could have, but she would have hurt you." Hatori finally replied as he then tossed the cigarette with perfect precision into the ceramic jar he kept on the porch for such a purpose.

"I know. If it was simply me, I could cope with the physical pain." Hatori finally turned around and smiled a brief smile at the girl who stood in front of him. With sure movements, he pulled her forwards and lightly rested his hands on the smallish bump rounding out what had been an almost concave belly.

"_But it's not."_ was the unspoken implication between them.

"Have you warned them that she's coming?" Tohru asked as she tilted her face up to his to receive a kiss. Hatori nodded before lowering his lips down to hers.

"I did. But I don't underestimate her. She is shrewd when it comes to getting her revenge, even over things that there is no point in dredging up any longer." Hatori replied once he had finished kissing her and rested his chin on the top of her head, all the while wondering how he had been so lucky to have been blessed by having Tohru come into his arms and into his heart.

He guessed it was when they had all worked together to help Kyoko and Haa-kun flee that it had started. Or maybe it was the impetus needed for him to make the first move towards the woman that had been filling his thoughts ever since he had seen her. They hadn't hesitated after plans had been set into motion. Once Kyoko and Haru had been safely ensconced in Nagasaki, they had given in to the quiet passion that had sprung up between them. Shigure had pretended to not notice the consummation, but he had been serious when he had made sure that his cousin would make sure to take care of her and to make sure that she would achieve what her mother had put so much stock into before she died.

Things hadn't changed between her and the family. Not even when she had unexpectedly ended up pregnant not even a month after the summer holidays.

Hatori tried his best to not strangle Shigure when he had given his oldest friend the news. The dog had had a field day hooting over his cousin's misfortunes, despite being sickeningly sweet to Tohru and flirting even more than he usually had. Hatori had screwed up. Despite being so careful to always use condoms when he slept with her, she had managed to get pregnant. So he put up with the dog's behaviour for longer than he usually would have under those circumstances.

Somehow, Akito had gotten wind of her pregnancy (Hatori cursed himself for his carelessness at leaving his cabinets without more secure locks) and had threatened to harm her unless Hatori gave her Haru and Kyoko's whereabouts.

Knowing he had no choice, he had given it. And then promptly contacted them to flee as fast as they could to Seoul before she got herself anywhere near them.

"I hope Kyoko-chan and Haa-kun are safe." Tohru murmured as she laid her head on Hatori's chest.

Hatori blinked his burning eyes and hugged his wife even more tightly. He wanted to express the same wish, but he had never believed in giving anyone false hope. So he remained quiet and hoped that was enough to comfort his love now.

(Line Break)

Haru rubbed at his eyes, willing the grittiness to go away. He had been awake for what felt like a lifetime and longed to go sleep for an extremely long time. But that wasn't possible. Not when Akito was on his tail and he had a wife and a practically newborn child to take care of. They had planned to go to Seoul, but there simply wasn't enough time. Hokkaido was the safest bet at that point, so that was the route that they took.

The train was going to be there in a few hours, but even that small amount of time felt like it was too much. He may have risked flying, but not with the baby being as fretful as it was at that time. He didn't want to add another burden to Kyoko's head, since her entire being was focused on taking care of the child and in a small way, taking care of him as well.

She was the one that directed him places and dragged him along when they switched trains or had to get supplies from the wretched little stores around the stations. His sense of direction had completely shut down in Nagasaki and had gone even worse now that they were on the run.

He breathed out a sigh of relief when the announcement was made that they would be in Hokkaido shortly. Maybe then they would have time to catch their breath and get away from the nightmare of having to dodge Akito's wrath.

He wasn't going to lie to himself and or tell Kyoko that things were going to be fine when they reached the northernmost island, because he didn't know. But he wasn't going to passively take anything that Akito would throw at them. Not when there was a couple of blood debts to settle between them.

"Penny for your thoughts, kiddo?" Kyoko whispered as she leaned against him and rested her head on his shoulder. He turned and buried his nose in her hair and breathed in her unique scent of sweetness and herbs before he finally formulated an answer.

"A bed. My kingdom for a bed." He murmured sleepily, making her snort in quiet laughter lest she wake up the snoozing child resting in her arms.

"Soon." She replied in a very low voice. "I hope we can stay there for awhile. It's too difficult to be on the run with a baby." She laughed softly and then fell quiet. Trust Kyoko to find the humour in such a situation.

He expected her to say something else, but after several moments of silence, her breathing evened out and he could tell she had simply fallen asleep. She needed it and he once again felt the familiar pang of guilt that has attacked him ever since he literally pulled her out of the hospital and took her to train station. She doesn't blame him for it, even though she's probably still suffering from giving birth. She runs with him, knowing that if she doesn't, she isn't going to have the chance to see her child grow up. But it still doesn't ease the guilt.

He frowns and rubs at his useless eyes again, deciding that maybe he too, should go to sleep when the train finally churns down to a slow crawl and then a full stop and the announcements say they are in Hokkaido.

(Line Break)

She'd smashed everything in the house and she'd still not worn out her rage. Kureno only watched her through the curtain of his hair. There was nothing for him to do but wait until she had finally worn herself out so that he could take her home.

She had stopped screaming, thankfully. She only snarled out incoherent noises and tried to destroy even more things...but everything was broken and it was simply making her look pathetic. She had lost and she knew it, but she simply wouldn't admit it.

She wanted to continue to search for them, despite not having a clue as to where they would have gone. That was what she was screaming at him to as she clawed and begged him.

Kureno only stared at her impassively until she had worn herself out before gathering her into his arms and letting her sag against him. Once that had happened, he picked her up and carried her out to the waiting car in the driveway.

Once he had gotten her settled into the car, he started the engine and pulled out of the driveway, his mind only on the long drive that they would have to make back to Tokyo.

So focused was he on the drive back that he didn't notice the car partially hidden by the shade of a particularly large tree. Nor did he notice it begin to follow him once he manoeuvred the car out of the driveway.

(Line Break)

Kyoko stepped into the bathroom and stopped to look at herself in the mirror. What she saw didn't impress her. Her skin was too sallow and pale and her breasts looked too full and worse, they were leaking milk despite having had fed Hikaru earlier. Her hair was greasy and her face looked like she hadn't sleep in a week.

She wrinkled her nose and turned away from the mirror. Maybe a shower and a bath would do her much good.

Nodding to herself, she stepped into the cubicle and turned on the water. As she stood underneath the warm spray, she began to feel her carefully constructed façade crack. She shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself, but that didn't stop the trembling or the sobs that were trying to tear themselves out of her throat.

As the tears began to fall, she realized how tired she was at that point. She had literally been yanked out of the hospital two days after having gone through a horribly painful birth and set on the run. She understood the necessity, since she was sure that Akito would lock her up in the cage if she got a hold of them, but she was still resentful and exhausted and in pain.

She hadn't shown it to Haru, but she hurt badly. Not to mention the fact that the bleeding hadn't let up like the nurses had promised. Even now she could smell the blood as it dribbled down the drain.

Sobbing quietly, she sank down onto the tiled floor and brought her knees up to her chest.

As she watched the blood rinse clear, another thought hit her hard.

It wasn't just the fucken blood, she realized as she started to rock back and forth. It was also a shamed sense of relief that was making her emotional at that moment.

Hikaru was Hatsuharu's son. She had cried with harsh gratitude when the child was put into her arms and Haru's own sleepy cow eyes looked up at her from that tiny face with its fuzz of brown hair. She wanted to tell him, right after everything had settled. But she had been too tired. And the tests took up all of her time. And then the news had come, so there hadn't been time.

The tears strengthened at that thought and she clawed her arms. She had to tell him as soon as she walked out of the bathroom. He had a right to know.

(Line Break)

The car was going too fast on those roads. The fact that they were slick with rain didn't help matters any. He hadn't counted on a nearly torrential rain coming down and making the roads slick. Too slick. He tried to be careful and not too drive too fast and also not lose sight of the car that snotty Sohma was driving, but it's a tall order.

Even more so when the Sohma wasn't able to avoid the tree that has crashed in the middle of the road. The car, despite the safety features built in, crumpled. As he watched it, he realized too late that his own car isn't that well built. He swerved the wheel, but the car didn't respond smoothly and it too crashed.

The steering wheel caught him in the chest and crumpled his rib-cage on impact.

He gasped and tried to pull air into his lungs, tried to ignore the high-pitched screams coming from the other car, tried to ignore that his heart was quickly ceasing to beat. But he can't.

It all goes silent then.

Notes- Once again, I do apologize for the time between updates. I'm pretty much consumed by work recently and also an annoying spate of writer's block prevented this from being written out earlier. This is the penultimate chapter, and I hope that questions have been answered well enough by this one and the next that will follow. Thank you for reading despite the gaps. Cheers!


	13. Sometimes Solitude Is

Chapter 12-Sometimes Solitude Is

Shigure tugged on the black tie, loosening it around his throat slightly. His eyes burned with lack of sleep and tears that simply wouldn't fall. Sighing raggedly, he ran his hands through the hair that he hadn't bothered to get cut since they had gotten news of the accident.

"You don't have to come. Hatori will be there to take care of everything." a low voice broke the silence, making him turn around and finally break out of himself.

Yuki stood in the door way of his room, his suit a sober grey and perfectly pressed in preparation for the funeral. His eyes were big and hollow in his deathly pale face, the only sign that the funeral was affecting him at all.

Shigure was tempted to take up the offer. He was tired and he hadn't really gotten over the shock and numbness that had plagued him ever since they had gotten word of the accident. A numbness that spread as the months passed and there was no change in Akito's condition. Hatori had been the one to make the decision to let her die and Shigure had nodded and added his signature along with his cousin's to the death certificate right after she had taken her last breath.

He had loved her, though. Despite everything, he had loved her and he at least owed her that much.

"No. I'll manage." He told his younger cousin. Yuki only gave him a long look that Shigure managed to ignore until Yuki finally gave a soft sigh and walked down to the kitchen.

He knew he was being stubborn about the whole deal. They probably all were, since they all were coming. He could smell all of them, the ones with an animal and the ones without as they spoke in low voices in the living room. He knew that they were going to see whether the one that had held them in abject terror was really dead. Not out of love.

Not like Kureno and himself. They were the only ones that really loved her, not out of fear or duty, but as a person. As a woman that, if things had been different, would have been free to live her own life and possibly even have been happy.

It was too late for all of that. All that awaited her was cremation and her ashes to be interred in the Sohma plot. Maybe if he ever did get married, he would call a child after her. But that wouldn't happen for a long time. Or would it even happen? He asked himself as he finally got himself together enough to walk downstairs.

He wished he knew the answer for sure.

(Line Break)

"How do you feel?" Rin asked Yuki as they sat on the porch and caught a few moments of privacy before they were all herded in different cars and driven to the funeral home. Hatori had vaguely mentioned a time, but no one really caught it, supposing that they would be told once Hatori got irritated enough to shove them outside.

Yuki looked at her and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know." He replied truthfully, turning his head and staring straight ahead at the tree in the garden.

"I guess I should be happy that she's gone. I guess I should be grateful to know that the curse will pass soon enough. But I don't feel anything like that." he told her, his voice flat and quiet as he spoke.

Rin shifted and moved closer to him, sharing his warmth in the chilly December morning.

"Is that bad?" he asked as he wrapped his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

"I don't think so." Rin finally replied as she mulled the question over in her mind. She too was worried about the curious emptiness that she felt the minute that Hatori and Shigure had confirmed Akito's death. Kureno had closed his eyes, but not fast enough to prevent the tear from slipping down his face. Hatori had been clinical about the entire situation, but the tiredness in his eye had been palpable. Shigure had looked like he had shattered slightly in that moment, and despite recovering quickly, it had been too evident that it had happened.

But Yuki had done nothing and neither had she; which had puzzled her to no end, since she had at least expected to feel some kind of triumph or relief that the orchestrator of her misery was gone. But nothing came forth. Absolutely nothing.  
"I think it's bad for her, not for us. She tried so hard to keep us in her clutches and to have us love her and no one else, yet in the end, she couldn't even manage that. That's probably what is bad."

Yuki nodded and twined his fingers in her hair.

"Kureno and Shigure loved her though. They are really hurt by her death."

"Kureno pitied her. He only stayed with her because she had no one else. Her mother used her and hurt her, who else could she turn to? Shigure...in his own way, he loved her. But he also wanted to smother her with his love. That isn't love, in the end. Just a sick parody of it."

Yuki smiled bitterly before tilted Rin face up to his.

"Just like what I had with Kyoko." he said resignedly, making Rin's eyes widen at the admission. She opened her mouth to speak, to tell him that she didn't meant to insult him, but Yuki put his hand over her mouth to stop the flow of words.

"I'm not angry and I'm not hurt. I'm merely stating the truth that I should have seen years ago. If I had, then maybe Hatsuharu wouldn't have ended up blind. Maybe Kyoko wouldn't have been raped. And maybe, I would have been smart enough to see that you have always been the one that I love."

Rin's eyes widened at that and she pulled his hand away from her mouth.

"Don't joke, Yuki. Not about that." she rasped out harshly, her head spinning at the words he had just spoke to her. Yuki snorted.

"When have you ever known me to joke about something so important, Isuzu? Is it that difficult to accept that I've finally come to my sense and accepted that I love you?" Rin's mouth opened and closed soundlessly several times as tears started to slide down her cheeks in rapid succession. Yuki smiled lopsidedly, his own eyes tearing up as he tilted his head and pressed his lips over hers.

The kiss was nothing like the ones they had shared in the past. It was soft, delicate and most importantly, filled with the emotion that Yuki had spoken of earlier. Rin could only choke back both sobs and laughter as he kissed her. He had been right, she realized. He did love her.

(Line Break)

The cemetery was snowy and quiet once they finally got there. The cremation had gone well, despite the small sensationalism created by Kyoko and Haru's arrival with the baby bundled in Kyoko's arms. She had had the grace to look embarrassed and had quickly procured seats and had sat down quietly to ride out the service until the very end.

Luckily, the service wasn't very long and afterwards, the female Sohmas had ambushed Kyoko and the child while the men had surrounded Hatsuharu.

"We didn't think you'd come." Hatori had commented once they had shaken hands. Haru shrugged.

"We didn't think we would either, but she was family and we did owe her the duty to be here." Haru replied nonchalantly, pushing up his sunglasses with his index finger.

"Is that really it?" Hatori asked in a low voice. Haru tilted his head at his older cousin.

"Is that what you have been asking yourself?" Hatori blinked at the question.

"She's dead. Let's just leave it at that, despite knowing that all of us came here with a different reason. I don't think any of us was really that sad to see her go apart from Kureno, that is. Let her have that much dignity in her death."

Hatori laughed softly and shook his head at the words. Hatsuharu never ceased to surprise him with those insights that showed Haru wasn't an idiot like the family history liked to paint him as.

There was no more conversation, since Kisa came up and dragged Haru towards Kyoko, who was standing with Shishou, showing him his first grandson.

Hatori watched him go and sighed. Haru was right. There was no point in dragging Akito's name through the mud. She had lived and died unhappily and now she was gone. That would be the end of her. In time, the wounds she inflicted would heal and they would all learn to live normally. And she would be forgotten and relegated to the family annals. And that would be the end of her.

"A tale told by a madman/full of sound and fury/signifying nothing." Hatori murmured before he too went off in search of Tohru.

(Line Break)

"The child's his, isn't it?" Shigure asked Kazuma-dono as they watched Kisa, Kagura, Tohru and even Isuzu fawn over the baby, who was staring at them with sleepy grey eyes as he was passed from pair to pair of waiting arms.

"Thank god. I'm sure it would have broken her if it wasn't." Kazuma replied mildly as he turned to the haunted man beside him.

"I know she was bad. She was cruel and sadistic. But I still will miss her." Shigure murmured as he took a sip of the tea he was holding. Kazuma watched him coolly before he nodded.

"I understand. I'm not going to make you feel guilty about your emotions. I do know to respect the dead and to respect emotions."

"I wish things had turned out different for all of us." Shigure whispered as he watched Yuki talk to Kyoko and Haru.

Kazuma shrugged. "They will. Eventually."

(Line Break)

"Is she happy?" Yuki asked Haru the minute he was able to pull him away from Kyoko's side.

Haru tilted his head to one side and laughed softly.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Yuki laughed softly.

"Touché. But yes. I am happy. So's Isuzu."

"Good. And yes, She's happy. Even more so that she can come back to Shishou's house with Hikaru." He paused and crossed his arms. "Unless you have decided to stay there permanently?"

"No. I'm living with Shigure and Isuzu again. You have your home back." Yuki looked down at the ground for several minutes before he looked up.

"And for what its worth, I'm sorry. For everything."

Haru was quiet for awhile before he finally gave Yuki a stiff nod and walked away.

"It's time to go." Rin whispered in his ear. Nodding, Yuki followed her, not bothering to look behind him. There was no point to it. His past was what had been buried in that cemetery. There was no point wasting time on it any longer. It was done.

End.

Notes: Okay and it is done. Thank you for sticking through with the gaps between updates on this piece. This chapter was interesting to write because the characters needed to have their say about Akito. If this were to have happened in the manga, this is how I would expect them all to behave on that. Kyoko doesn't really get a voice in this because she has shut that door of her past as soon as her son was born. For once, she was ahead of Haru, so she doesn't need the closure like the others do. Hatori quotes Macbeth in his own thoughts, in case anyone is wondering.

And that's it. Thank you.


End file.
